


Astraea

by LuckyWaters



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother/Sister Incest, Codependency, Comeplay, Cunnilingus, Epistolary Elements, Extremely Underage, F/M, First Time Blow Jobs, Masturbation, Object Insertion, Puberty, Secret Relationship, Sexual Experimentation, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Surprisingly Plotty, Vaginal Fingering, and then, fast burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:35:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 31
Words: 156,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23599963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyWaters/pseuds/LuckyWaters
Summary: Draco Malfoy has a younger sister. He loves her a little too much.a.k.a. A character study: how would the seven years of Harry Potter books be different if Draco had a younger sister that made him learn how to love unconditionally?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 829
Kudos: 1339





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First published work, and of course I go for the kinky/illegal/fucked up.  
> This work will span the seven years of canon.
> 
> Shout out to [Azdaema](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azdaema) for providing the coding for the custom formatting displayed in this story! If you need help on skins, you should take a look at the works under her [Azdaema Codes pseud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azdaema/pseuds/Azdaema%20Codes).

### Prologue

Everyone said that when Virgo was born, they were expecting a tantrum. Even at just fifteen months old, Draco was a terror. In his eyes, everyone around him was meant to entertain him, and if they weren’t up to snuff, he would certainly let them know. By crying—shrieking, really. The Manor was constantly filled with his shrieks. After two weeks, Narcissa put an extra-strength imperturbable charm on the nursery and left the house elf Gilly with instructions to only leave the room when Narcissa or Lucius came to sit with Draco.

Narcissa knew that without Gilly, Lucius and she would have never considered trying for another child, heir and a spare be damned. As it was, they were able to forget how exhausting their only child was, sleeping happily five bedrooms down while Gilly attended to him.

They expected that once Virgo was born, and the attention was on someone else, Draco would make his disapproval known. Instead, the opposite happened. One look at Virgo’s wide blue eyes, and Draco quieted. He stopped fussing, stopped shrieking, and stared. The Malfoys never would have expected that given the choice of all the best magical toys that Galleons could buy, Draco would always prefer his sister.

Of course, Virgo’s birth didn’t solve all of Draco’s behavioral issues. Virgo was certainly his favorite entertainment, enrapturing him whether she was awake or asleep, giggling or burping, but just as with his favorite toys, Draco revolted if someone tried to take her away. Soon enough, Narcissa abandoned the recently remodeled second nursery, and just let Draco and Virgo sleep in the same crib. Gilly rarely spoke, but she seemed to be more well-rested after this move.

Narcissa had never imagined herself as the maternal type, beyond siring the requisite heir, but when Draco was born, she found herself overcome by devotion. Even while she tired of his screams and thanked Merlin that Gilly dealt with his… messier functions, her heart warmed with the idea that he was _hers_. She hadn’t anticipated that this feeling could be surpassed by a second child, especially when magic gave a daughter instead of the anticipated second son. But as the years went on, she found herself charmed by young Virgo—her bright blue eyes, her luminescent skin, her long blonde hair. She was like a quieter, gentler Narcissa, this time without the questionable influence of Bellatrix and Andromeda. Virgo was a peacemaker instead of a plotter, and Narcissa didn’t realize how much she yearned for that around the Manor.

* * *

When Lucius Malfoy was a boy, he didn’t picture himself with a daughter. In fact, he didn’t picture himself with a second child at all. For generations, the Malfoy family bore sons as only children, trained from birth to hold the prestige and power that came with being head of their line. Of course, for generations, the Malfoy family had also arranged their son’s marriages. These unions, resulting from duty rather than passion, may have been the factor that kept each son an only child. 

But Lucius didn't think any of his ancestors had encountered a woman like Narcissa Black. Beautiful, intelligent, poised, and cunning, Narcissa could have awaited traditional courtships and her parents’ assistance after Hogwarts, and still would have had her pick of the pureblooded sons. But Narcissa was raised well, meaning she understood the politics of high society better than anyone else of her age. When her older sister Andromeda ran off with a muggle in Narcissa’s fourth year of Hogwarts, she took it upon herself to redeem the family. She quickly chose Lucius, two years above her in Slytherin, as her intended suitor, and he fell in love just as swiftly.

Despite it being a love match, Abraxas and Lorena Malfoy approved the courtship as enthusiastically as if they had handpicked Narcissa for their son. Cygnus and Druella Black similarly sanctioned the betrothal. Lucius was jubilant and smug, at the time. Now, he wondered if his ancestors had it right. Without a love match, he would have never found himself in such a feeble position as being acquiescent to all of his wife’s desires. Without a love match, he never would have seen reason to have a second child. “Oh Lucius,” Narcissa had sighed a mere month after bearing Draco. “He needs a sibling, don’t you think? I couldn’t bear for him to grow up as lonely as you did…”

Draco certainly was never lonely. Virgo and Draco did everything together—to Lucius’ consternation. They received their pre-Hogwarts tutoring together, they learned to fly together, they explored the Wiltshire wilderness together. Lucius also found himself instructing Draco on the responsibilities of being a Malfoy head of house with Virgo listening in, her blue eyes attentive and keen. He found himself allowing it, because as long as Virgo was there, Draco was motivated to actually listen—or at least, pretend to—in an effort to show off his future place in the family. Without Virgo, Draco’s attention wandered, no one for whom to perform.

Lucius could allow that; there was no harm in little Virgo understanding the man’s place in the family, as long as she didn’t grow any delusions about herself sliding into such a role. He could allow Draco and Virgo to share a bedroom for longer than he thought any children should reasonably want to. He could allow his children to display casual physical affection quite abnormal for their station in society. He could allow Draco to spend more time engaging with his own sister than their guests during play dates, galas, and teatimes. Salazar knew that the Crabbe and Goyle boys weren’t known for their intelligence.

But when he found out that his son and heir also joined his sister during Narcissa’s lessons on being a lady, that was a bridge too far. His son would be well-mannered, elegant, and poised, but Merlin and Morgana, he would not care about the cut of ladies’ dress robes or the correct way to curtsey.

His heir would not be a ponce.

Lucius never would have guessed that one day in the future, he’d happily accept his son being a ponce, over the reality of his sexual preference.

* * *

Draco Malfoy loved his life. How couldn’t he, when he was better than everyone else? He was handsome, smart, well-mannered, and better bred than anyone else he knew. Oh, and he was rich. He’d be truly rich when he turned seventeen and gained access to his own vault, but for now, his parents could (and would) buy him anything he wanted. There was no feeling like walking through Diagon Alley with his mother leading the way, as wizards and witches alike stepped out of their path. “Always remember who you are,” Narcissa advised him on one of these visits. “You are Draco Malfoy, with purer blood and fuller vaults than anyone else you’ll meet. Remember who you are, and no one will cross you.”

It was addictive, this knowledge. Being better than everyone else meant that he could order anyone to do anything at all. The manor’s house elves quickly learned to fear him, and shopkeepers rushed to fulfill his smallest wishes. He would never forget the feeling of the first time _he_ led Mother through Diagon, and saw the commoners bow out of the way. That was power, and power was delightful.

But not quite as delightful as being adored. And no one in Draco’s life adored him like Virgo did. Despite being just a year younger than him, Virgo seemed to believe that Draco knew everything. She was endlessly inquisitive from the moment she first spoke, and Draco was her favorite source. “What does Father do all day?” she would ask as they lay out on the manor grounds. “Do Invisibility cloaks really exist?” she would murmur from behind _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. “What do you think of the Holyhead Harpies?” she’d demand mid-Seeker’s duel.

Draco knew he was smart, but he would never be as curious—no, as thorough—as his sister. Where Draco filed away all facts he happened upon for later presentation, Virgo dove into concepts for seemingly no other reason than she wanted to understand. Draco hoped that she would never realize that while Draco knew a little bit about everything, in sum total of knowledge, she would always have him beat.

But the reason that he loved his sister—and yes, he did, he’d readily admit it (to himself)—was that she never allowed herself to beat him. She never lost her childlike idolism of him, no matter how many times he feigned knowledge or embarrassed himself or found himself acting as less than a Malfoy heir should. She’d still crawl into his bed after a nightmare, or have another question to ask him, or follow him at his slightest say-so.

He knew he was better than everyone else, but Virgo was the only one who made him feel like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I welcome feedback, especially related to how believable their age, poshness, and britishness in their conversations. I'm trying to avoid using words they shouldn't know yet except when their being nerds, but I'm sure some slipped through.
> 
> Also let me know if there are any tags I should add!
> 
> I'm in quarantine, so lots of writing time, so updates will probably be fast for a while and then slow down when life gets back to normal.
> 
> Tumblr is [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com).
> 
> Edit 11/7/2020: I've created a [google form](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9) for anyone who is intimidated by commenting but is interested in providing feedback-- it's anonymous, and all quantitative, so it should take very little time. I will be posted the link at the end notes of every chapter here on out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo hates not knowing something. Draco hates telling her no.

### Part One

Virgo Malfoy hated her name. She knew that Malfoys weren’t used to having to name daughters, but really. Her ancestry was filled with cool names—Lucius meant “light,” the original Abraxas was either a god or a demon (but magical and powerful either way), and don’t even get her started on Draco's name. She’d love for her name to mean dragon. Merlin, she’d take a name that meant flobberworm over her own. Okay, no she wouldn’t. But kneazle! She’d love to have her namesake be a kneazle.

She hadn’t always hated her name. Sure, it didn’t lend itself easily to any nicknames, but Malfoys weren’t supposed to have nicknames anyway. It was uncouth to shorten one’s given name. She had always liked the way her name mirrored that of her brother—when Gilly called them to dinner, half the time she mixed up the syllables. Virco and Drago or Vrigo and Darco or Vargo and Drico. They only made sense together.

As soon as she knew how to read, she asked her tutor what her name meant. Adriana Avery was quiet and bookish, but she knew how to research. She read book after book to Virgo, explaining that Virgo was named after the constellation she was born under, which was prominent in the night sky in the last month of summer. To be born under Virgo made one destined to be intelligent, hardworking, steadfast, dependable. Virgo chanted these facts to herself whenever her father banned her from a father and son activity.

It was Blaise Zabini who taught her Virgo’s real meaning. She had been able to sneak away from the Malfoy’s summer garden party with Draco and his friends to play some Quidditch on the east lawn. Zabini didn’t take kindly to a girl being a better flyer than him. “What are we even bothering letting _Virgin_ play with us?” he scoffed loudly. Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott snorted. Virgo blushed, silent. She didn’t know what virgin meant. She hated not knowing something.

At nine and a half, she no longer needed Ms. Avery to help navigate the library. Early the next morning, she thumbed the worn copy of _Oxford English Dictionary_.

_Virgin (noun): a person who has never had sexual intercourse_

She frowned, quickly flipping a hundred pages back.

_Sexual intercourse (noun): genital contact, especially the insertion of the penis into the vagina followed by orgasm; coitus; copulation_

Well, that didn’t help. She didn’t know half of those words. She tried looking them up, but genital led her to ‘sexual organ,’ and penis back to ‘copulation,’ and vagina to ‘uterus.’ She was on her sixth definition and she wasn’t any closer to understanding what Blaise had called her.

She did what she did whenever she reached a wall in research: she asked Draco.

“Draco?” she murmured as she crawled onto his bed, still clutching the dictionary to her chest. He groaned and turned towards her, blinking wearily.

“Virgo? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I need your help,” she murmured, blushing slightly. It was far from the first time she’d woken her brother because she wanted to talk to him, but still, in her one-track curiosity, she had forgotten how early it was. “I was looking something up in the library and I don’t understand it.”

Draco sighed, taking in the huge tome. He rubbed his eyes before he sat up against the headboard, pulling Virgo unceremoniously down to sit next to him. “Alright, what is it? What don’t you understand?”

“I don’t know what a penis is.”

Draco coughed, his cheeks reddening. Virgo could feel hers redden as well in response, even though she didn’t know why. “Why are you looking _that_ up?” Draco hissed.

Virgo's brow furrowed. She’d asked him hundreds of questions before, and he’d never asked that. Draco wasn’t always right, but he’d always answer.

“I was trying to figure out what a virgin was!”

Draco’s blush deepened. “Oh. Look, Zabini was just being beastly, it doesn’t matter.”

Virgo frowned, looking back down at the dictionary. “They laughed at me,” she whispered. “They laughed at my name, and I don’t even know why.”

Draco pulled her against his side. Virgo could feel how he was still warm with sleep through his night robe. “You’re a Malfoy. We’re the best of the best. No one should ever laugh at you. Anyone who does is a prat.”

“Well, those _prats_ know something I don’t. And if I don’t know why they’re laughing, I can’t defend myself.”

Virgo knew she had won when Draco sighed and pulled at the dictionary. “Alright. What does the definition to ‘virgin’ say?”

Virgo didn’t ask why he couldn’t just tell her what it meant. Draco knew how much she liked figuring out things herself. She flipped quickly to the right page and let him read over her shoulder.

“But I don’t know what ‘sexual intercourse’ is,” she complained after a moment. She looked up. Draco was blushing again. “What is it?” she prodded.

“I don’t—” Draco stopped and swallowed. “I heard Parkinson say it’s something adults do, where they get naked and kiss each other,” he said quickly, observing Virgo’s face. “See, I told you Zabini was being a plonker. You’re still a kid, obviously you haven’t—done that yet.”

“I’m not a kid!”

“You’re a year younger than me.”

“Well, have _you_ kissed anybody yet?”

Draco was tempted to lie and make up a story about Pansy or Tracey or one of the other girls, but he softened at the sight of his sister’s red cheeks. “You’d know if I had.”

Virgo’s glare softened. “But the definition of sexual intercourse doesn’t say anything about—about either being naked or kissing.”

“What does it say?”

Virgo showed him.

“Oh. So that’s why—why you asked that. About what a pe—” He cut himself off.

She nodded. “So what is it?”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be talking about this, Virgo.”

She rolled her eyes. “You love talking about things we’re not supposed to, Draco. Who was it that was telling me all about what Father called Minister Fudge the other night and what mother meant by ‘after you floo, you can’t pick your fireplace?’”

“This is different,” he mumbled. At the look on Virgo’s face, he relented. “Okay, look, you know how Father made Gilly stop bathing us together years ago?”

“He said it wasn’t proper.”

“Mother told me that it’s because—because girls and boys have different parts down there.”

“You mean, under our robes?”

Draco nodded. “And… and what _I_ have, what boys have, is called a penis.”

“What’s a vagina, then?”

Draco shrugged, relaxing back into the pillows now that the dreaded question was asked and answered. “Must be what you have.”

Virgo hummed, throwing aside the dictionary before relaxing back into the pillows. Draco’s arm was digging into her back, but she didn’t move away. Draco always smelled familiar in the morning, like when they used to share a room and she’d wake up after a nightmare warm and rested in his bed. Draco always made her feel safe.

“So, can I see? Your penis?”

Draco scoffed loudly, but didn’t respond. Then he seemed to consider. “Only if you show me your vagina,” he declared at last.

Virgo grinned in victory, crawling onto her knees. She had changed into her day robes before heading to the library, so it wasn’t as easy to move around. She climbed onto Draco’s knees, and swung her legs around, accidentally kicking Draco’s side. He grabbed her feet to prevent her from kicking him again. “You should get under the blankets, so if Gilly comes in to wake me up, she doesn’t see what we’re doing.”

“Good idea.” Virgo got back onto her hands and knees and crawled over Draco to the edge of the blanket. “This robe is so hard to move in.”

“But mother loves the way the sapphire looks on your skin,” Draco said seriously, and then grinned. “A proper lady.”

Virgo rolled her eyes as she got situated underneath the blankets. “Alright, me or you first?”

“You, obviously,” Draco declared. “If I go first, there’s nothing stopping you from going back on your word to show me yours.”

“Oh, right.” Virgo pulled her knees up so that the blanket tented over them, and then pulled her robes up until they pooled around her stomach.

“You need to take your knickers off.”

It was harder than she expected to take her knickers off while lying down under the blankets, but she managed. She put them to the side, and then held the blankets up over their heads so Draco could look.

“Wow, there’s nothing there. Wicked!” Draco’s grey eyes widened as he looked between her legs.

“There is too something there!”

“Not like—you’ll see when you see mine, okay?” Draco moved, crawling over her left leg until he was over her. His eyes stayed focused between her legs.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t see from there.”

“You won’t be able to see from under there; it’s all dark.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I know what I’m doing. _Light_.” The enchanted lantern next to his bed brightened and levitated over to them. When Draco lifted the blankets more, it moved into the space, settling between Virgo’s legs.

Virgo stared at Draco’s face underneath the blanket as he backed up until he could see. The lantern made his grey eyes look like they were sparkling.

“Virgo, this is so _cool_.” She felt his hands on her thighs, pulling her legs further apart. The blanket fell down, so that she couldn’t see his eyes anymore. “Can I touch it?”

Virgo nodded, and then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yep. _Oi!_ Your fingers are cold.”

Draco pulled the blanket up to meet her eyes. “Sorry. You know my fingers are always frigid.”

“Forgot. You can touch again, it just surprised me.” Virgo took the edge of the blanket from Draco, holding it up above him.

Draco’s fingers moved more slowly this time, pulling the flaps of skin at the top apart. “Does that hurt?”

“No, you can pull them further than that. What does it look like?”

“What, you don’t know?”

“How do you reckon I could see down there from up here?”

“Oh, right.” Draco was silent from underneath the blanket, but Virgo could feel his fingers on her skin. She looked over at the door. She suddenly realized she hadn't been keeping an eye out for Gilly, and she found herself blushing. She had touched herself down there before, but she never felt like she was doing anything wrong. That must have been what this feeling was—the excitement of breaking rules. She always got a thrill when Draco and she eavesdropped on Mother and Father after dinner, too. “There’s these two big pieces of skin on the outside—”

“These?” She had reached down to pull them apart.

“Yeah. Could you hold them like that?”

With her hands under the blanket, she could no longer hold the blanket up to see Draco’s expression. When his voice came out again, it was a little muffled. “The skin’s different between them. It’s darker, redder, and it’s a different texture. And then there’s two smaller pieces of skin—”

Virgo gasped.

“What? Did that hurt?”

Virgo shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her. “Just felt weird. Keep going. What else?”

It took a moment, but then Draco’s fingers started up where he left off. “And then between them, it’s all smooth at the top.” One of his fingers traced this path. “And at the bottom, there’s this hole.”

Virgo frowned. “A _hole_? Can you see into my body?”

“I can’t see into it, it’s pretty small…” It was silent for a minute, while Draco pulled more at the skin between her legs. “I might be able to stick a finger in, though?”

She took another peak at the door. No Gilly. “Yeah, do it. Be careful, though. I don’t want to have to go to Healer Abbott because of this.”

Draco snorted humorlessly. “We could just tell Mother that you were alone and touching yourself,” he suggested after a minute.

“Like that’s better!”

“Better than me doing it!”

Virgo didn’t respond. Draco was still under the blanket. “Well? Are you going to?”

Draco exhaled, and Virgo felt his breath on her skin _down there_. “Here goes.” His finger tentatively pushed forward, at a place that she’d never touched before. But then it stopped. “Does that hurt?”

“No. Is your finger in? I can hardly feel it.”

“No, you freaked me out with your healer talk. I’m pushing more now.” And then she felt it push _into her body_.

“Whoa,” she and Draco murmured at the same time.

“My finger’s in as much as I can get it,” he said. “That doesn’t hurt?”

“It feels…weird,” she answered after a moment. “And like, not terribly comfortable. But it doesn’t hurt.” Draco didn’t say anything, but she felt him turn his finger inside of her, and then pull it out before pushing it all the way back in.

“It feels like… like velvet inside. Like one second you’re going with the grain and it’s soft and smooth, and then it’s like… rough. But not rough. It’s so warm. You’re so warm inside.”

Virgo didn’t say anything. She was honest about it not being totally comfortable, but now that she had felt what it was like to have something inside, she didn’t know if she wanted Draco to take his finger out.

“I can’t believe I’m inside your body.” His voice was quiet. He hadn’t moved his finger, but she could feel his other hand going back to play with the skin around it.

“What do you think it’s for? It seems stupid for magic to have just left a random hole in my body.”

“What did you say ‘sexual innercourse’ was defined as?”

“Intercourse,” Virgo corrected softly. “‘ _Genital contact, especially the insertion of the penis into the vagina followed by orgasm; coitus; copulation_.’”

“So if this is your vagina, it’s for inserting a penis into.”

Virgo’s mind returned to objective. “You still haven’t showed me what a penis is!”

“I’m not done with yours!”

“You can go back to it another time; I still don’t get what a virgin is!”

“You promise?”

“What?”

“You promise I can touch this another time?”

“Anytime you want.”

Draco scoffed, but his head appeared from under the blankets. He still hadn’t pulled his finger out of her. “You can’t just say ‘anytime,’ when I ask for something. You need to ask for something in exchange. At this rate, you’ll be the first Malfoy in three centuries to not sort Slytherin.”

Virgo huffed. That was Draco’s favorite taunt. “Okay, so I get to touch your penis anytime I want, too.”

“Nuh-uh, you already said I could touch it anytime. No bargaining _ex post_.”

She rolled her eyes. Ever since Draco got his own Latin tutor in preparation for Hogwarts, he liked surprising her with Latin phrases when she least expected it. “Well maybe I won’t even want to touch your penis. Are you going to show me, or are you too scared?”

Draco finally pulled his finger out. That place still felt strange, even after he stopped touching it. The lantern zipped out from under the covers and returned to the side table while he crawled closer to her. He glanced at the door before lifting up his nightrobe.

“You’re not wearing knickers!” Virgo exclaimed.

“Boys don’t wear knickers, boys wear pants.”

“Well, you’re not wearing those either.” When Draco had lifted up his night robe, only pale skin was revealed—well, his penis wasn’t so pale. Virgo assumed that must be what that thing was.

“I like sleeping without them,” Draco muttered as he looked down. “It doesn’t usually look like this.”

“Like what?”

“All… straight. And hard. Usually it kind of curls up against my legs unless I pull it out and about.”

“Why is it straight now?”

“I don’t know. It just happens sometimes. Like when I need to pee. Or I’m touching it.”

“Do you need to pee now?”

“No! Look, I don’t know why. Father said they’d teach me about it at Hogwarts. Now are you going to touch it or not?”

“Hold your hippogriffs.” Virgo reached a hand out. Even though Draco said it was straight, it really wasn’t completely. It drooped down a little bit. And the skin was soft, not hard.

“You can hold it tighter than that. It’s not going to break.”

“Like this?” She wrapped her fingers around it, until they met on the other side.

“ _Yeah_.”

She looked up. Draco’s voice sounded funny, and his eyes were closed. “It doesn’t hurt, right?”

His eyes blinked open to meet hers, and he blushed. “No. Just feels…”

“Weird?”

“Yeah. Weird.”

Virgo looked back down at his penis. The part she was holding was kind of boring, just skin, but the top looked funny, like a little hat. Except there was a crease down the middle, at the top. Weird.

Maybe it was the way Draco was standing over her, kneeling over her stomach, but his penis was sticking straight out, and she was curious about that hat, so she just leaned forward and—

“What are you doing licking there?! Pee comes out of there!”

Virgo looked up and shrugged, even as she reddened. “Just wanted to. And it doesn’t taste like pee.”

“What does it taste like?”

Virgo frowned. “Can I lick it again and then answer?” Draco nodded enthusiastically. Virgo leaned forward, taking her time now, as she licked into the crease of the hat and then swirled her tongue around the rest. Because Draco was being quiet, she continued down the side until she met her hand. “Just skin. Kind of salty,” she answered.

Draco wrinkled his nose but didn’t say anything. Virgo went back to the penis. She moved her hand up and down a bit. The skin moved some with her hand, but Draco didn’t say anything, so she assumed it didn’t hurt. She lifted up the penis. Underneath, too, his body looked different. Where her skin pulled up tight against her body—near her _vagina_ , she reminded herself—his skin sagged down a bit behind his penis.

“What are these?” she asked, touching them.

“Vincent calls them bollocks.”

“Mother got mad at father for saying that a couple weeks ago. Said it was ‘low class.’”

Draco shrugged. “Maybe there’s a higher-class way to say it. I heard Zabini call them ‘balls.’ They hurt if you stop suddenly on your broomstick or the Quaffle hits them. One time, he said ‘You got me right in the balls,’ when I threw the Quaffle too hard at him.”

Zabini’s name reminded Virgo why they started this adventure in the first place. “We still haven’t figured out what a virgin is and why Zabini was laughing at me.”

Draco sat back so his bum rested on the top of her legs. “The definition said a virgin is someone who’s never had sexual impercourse.”

“ _Intercourse_.”

“Whatever. And intercourse is when—when the penis is inserted into the vagina.”

Virgo eyed his penis. “That looks bigger than a finger. You think that would fit in the hole?”

Draco frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe your hole gets bigger when you’re older. I know my penis is supposed to get bigger when I’m older.”

“Even bigger?”

“You should see Father’s, it’s huge!”

Virgo made a face. “I don’t want to think about Father’s penis. When have you even seen it?”

“You know when Father took me to that private Quidditch club and wouldn’t let you come?”

She nodded. “He said girls weren’t allowed.”

“Yeah, well, we had to get dressed in our Quidditch leathers. And all the men changed in one big room. And Father just pulled off his robe like it was completely normal. So I saw it. Some other men’s penises were even bigger!”

Virgo set this information aside. “But I don’t want to be a virgin if I’m going to get teased. There must be a way to do it.”

Draco pursed his lips as he considered. Then he looked down at his penis. “You want to try…”

Virgo couldn’t hide her eagerness. “Could we?”

“I’m telling you, I don’t think it’ll work.” But he was already scooting back underneath the covers and pulling her legs apart to stick his hand in the crevice.

“That’s your finger, not your penis.”

“I’m just making sure it still works,” Draco grumbled, pulling out his finger suddenly. In the five minutes she had been looking at his penis, Virgo had already forgotten how it felt to have his finger inside her. Draco wiggled around until his penis was near her vagina. “My night robe is in the way, I can’t see.”

“So take it off.”

Draco huffed but pulled it off. Virgo’s stomach suddenly felt weird. Draco was _naked_. She hadn’t seen him show so much skin in years. He didn’t notice her staring as he moved his hips down to meet hers again. “I still can’t see,” he grumbled. “I’m going to put my finger in to keep my place.”

Virgo nodded, but he had already pushed his finger in all the way to the knuckle. She thought he might be using a different finger this time; it felt bigger, like it went further into her body.

“Okay, I think my penis is lined up. I’m going to take my finger out and push forward, okay?”

“Okay.” Even after she said so, Draco didn’t take his finger out for several moments. His grey eyes bore into hers for a while before he moved. He pulled his finger out, and then she felt something bumping around down there, but it didn’t push in.

“Is it in the right place?”

“I think so?”

“You’ll tell me if it hurts?”

“Draco!”

“Alright, golly gosh.” She felt his penis press harder, but it didn’t go in. It just seemed to push her skin in. “It’s not going in.”

“Try harder.”

Draco acquiesced, but it didn’t take long before Virgo regretted it. “Ouch! Okay, stop.”

“Are you alright?” he pulled the blankets back to look between her legs. “Where does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t anymore, it just hurt for a moment. I don’t think it’s going to fit.”

Draco sighed and then crawled up to lie next to her. “Maybe kids our age aren’t meant to do it.”

“Then why is Zabini calling me a virgin? If that were true, everyone our age must be virgins.”

“He must have just heard the word and thought it sounded like your name. You know he was just jealous you’re such a good flyer.”

“But Pansy and Theo laughed.”

“Maybe they just didn’t want to admit they didn’t know what it meant either.”

Virgo wrinkled her nose. Draco sighed and retrieved his night robe, pulling it over his head.

“I’m going to ask Mother,” Virgo declared after a moment.

“What! Don’t you dare. You know Mother and Father think affection is uncouth—I'm sure that they wouldn't approve of what we just did. We’ll never be allowed near each other ever again.”

“I won’t tell her _that_. I’ll just say what Zabini called me and ask what it means. It’s checking my sources.”

“Oh. Okay, then.”

They lay next to each other for several minutes in silence. Virgo straightened her robes. She hoped they wouldn’t have creases from staying hiked up around her stomach for so long.

“You’ll still let me touch you down there whenever I want even though I couldn’t fit it in?”

Virgo snickered. “Are _you_ going to let me touch you whenever I want?”

“That wasn’t agreed upon,” Draco corrected. “But yes. Especially if you agree to lick it again.”

“I knew you liked that! ‘ _It feels weird_ …’”

“That’s what you said too,” Draco reminded her.

“Yeah, well…”

Draco smirked. Virgo shoved him before rolling out of his bed. “Come on, we should get up before Gilly comes looking for us.”

* * *

“Mother?”

Narcissa looked up from her desk. The garden party was only a day gone, and Virgo knew that she was already busy planning their Yule ball in hopes of getting the invitations out before the Flints sent theirs.

“Darling?”

Virgo entered the room. Narcissa’s study was in the east wing, overlooking the back gardens. The tall windows made it seem like they were floating in the sky. Virgo wanted a study like this one day.

“Virgo, what have you done to your robe? It’s so wrinkled.”

Virgo blushed. “Draco started wrestling me when I woke him up, and I haven’t found Gilly to fix it.”

Narcissa retrieved her wand from the desktop and fixed Virgo’s robe with a flick. “Wrestling? How undignified. One day you two will give your father an early death from embarrassment.”

Virgo frowned and looked down at her hands. “What does it matter? No one’s even coming over today.”

“You never know when someone might call on us unexpectedly. A lady must always exhibit her upbringing or risk bringing shame to her family.”

Virgo pressed her knees closer together underneath her robe, feeling properly chastened. This was why she always asked Gilly to dress her before Mother could see her.

“Now what is the matter? Surely you aren’t visiting me just to receive my lectures?”

Virgo brushed her long hair behind an ear as she smiled bashfully. “Blaise Zabini called me something yesterday, and I don’t know what it means.”

Narcissa tutted, brushing her hand over her daughter’s locks so that they fell to line her face. “I always knew that boy was trouble. Their family is not as well-bred as us, but we cannot bear the fallout from insulting Carina Zabini by removing her family from the guest list. What did he call you?”

“He called me a virgin.”

Narcissa’s eyebrows raised. “Is that all? I wonder where he picked that up. Perhaps the Zabini’s latin tutor is more advanced than Draco’s Mistress Fawley. I doubt he knows what it means, but it’s certainly nothing of which to be ashamed.”

Virgo exhaled, brushing her hair behind her ear again. “It’s not?”

“No, darling. It’s your name’s meaning, don’t you know?”

Virgo couldn’t believe her own mother was incorrect! “I was named after the constellation Virgo,” she proclaimed.

Narcissa smiled amusedly. “Yes, which in turn was named after a virgin goddess. You were named Virgo not only because you were born under her constellation, but because we hope you will remain pure and innocent until you're wed to your future husband. It is your greatest duty to this family.”

Virgo looked out the window as she inventoried this new information in her mind. “The dictionary says that a virgin is a person who has never had sexual intercourse.”

“Oh, darling, a proper lady does not speak about such subjects. You’ll learn all you need to at Hogwarts, but you should not need such information until after you are married.”

Virgo should have known. Mother rarely answered her questions. She gave her daughter the knowledge she thought she required and not a mote more. “So a virgin is a good thing?” she summarized.

“Absolutely, darling. When young Mr. Zabini called you that, whether he knew it or not, he was serving you a compliment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are welcome!
> 
> For those who don't like commenting, but are interested in providing anonymous feedback, [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9) is a short google form survey for feedback on this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo _had_ said anytime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes a letter that is under custom formatting. If you have trouble reading cursive, or don't like the new formatting, you can shut it off and revert to the traditional font by clicking the button "Hide Creator's Style" at the top of the page. There will be more letters under this formatting in future chapters, but I'll continue to give this reminder at the beginning of the chapters that include them.

Draco didn’t find her until later that day, as she sat out under the huge oak tree near the forest, watching the birds fly overhead. She had _Hogwarts, a History_ out in front of her, but she hadn’t actually read any of it in several minutes. “I just received a lecture from Mother about how wrestling is an undignified practice worthy of muggles.”

Virgo blushed. “I forgot to warn you. My robes were terribly wrinkled after this morning, and wrestling was the first excuse I thought of.”

“Of which you thought,” Draco corrected, sitting down next to her so that his shoulder bumped into hers. “What have you learned for me?” He pointed at the tome in front of her. “Only a couple of more months until I leave.”

“Hogwarts grounds have wards to prevent apparition and disapparation, and only the Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster, and Hospital Wing’s floos allow full-body travel, and that's only when they've opened the connection,” she recited. “I can’t seem to find a way to sneak there to see you, even if we could get Mother or Father’s help.”

Draco took her hand into his. “Well, it’s only a year. Before you know it, you’ll be there with me, and we’ll only have a common room between us.”

“At Hogwarts, there are charms to prevent boys from entering girls’ dormitories. You won’t be able to visit me, even if I do sort Slytherin.”

“You can visit me, then. You come to my quarters more than _vice versa_ already.”

“Who was it that appeared in my bed just last week because he had a nightmare that he sorted Hufflepuff?”

“Certainly not me. I’m Slytherin through and through. Must have been someone else.”

Virgo laughed, but did not respond. She couldn’t argue with his future house designation. Draco certainly took to their mother’s lessons of society politics much quicker than she did.

“Did you ask Mother?”

Her smile fell. She had almost forgotten what had brought her out here to brood alone. “Yes. She says that a proper lady should not discuss sexual intercourse and related subjects.”

Draco snorted. “I could have told you that she’d so. Did you learn anything from her anyway?”

“You know how I always thought I was named after the constellation Virgo?”

“Of course. It’s tradition in the Black family to name children after stars and constellations, and Mother continued the tradition with us. You know I am as well.”

“Well, apparently they didn’t pick Virgo because I was born under her constellation. They picked it because it means virgin. Mother said it’s my ‘greatest duty to this family’ to remain a virgin until I’m married.”

Draco blanched. “You mean, no one’s penis is supposed to go in your hole until after you’re married? You could be eighteen by that time!”

“The way Mother tells it, I shouldn’t even need to know what a penis is until then.”

Draco chortled, knocking Virgo’s shoulder with his own. “She really should know better. It’s against nature to ask you not to find something out.”

Virgo giggled, and shoved him before she relaxed into his side. “I just always thought that my name meant that I was intended to be smart and hard-working. Now I know all Mother and Father want from me is to _not_ be curious.”

“Who cares whether you are meant to be something or not? Anyone who knows you knows that you are those things. Certainly no one other than a swot would read a book like this,” he declared, tapping the cover of _Hogwarts, A History_.

“I’m just excited for you to go to Hogwarts, that doesn’t make me a swot.”

“I’m excited for Hogwarts too, but I daydream about making the Quidditch team and impressing all the professors and making friends with Harry Potter. He’s going to be in my year, don’t you know?”

“You’ve only told me three hundred times.”

“Well, I just know we’ll be friends. He may be only a half-blood, but Father says he’ll be highly influential. And he’s grown up with muggles, so he must be starved for company from a real wizard.”

Virgo grinned, curling up against Draco’s side. She’d heard his plan often enough. She knew he was more nervous for Hogwarts than he revealed. Convincing himself how well-connected and well-liked he was going to be was how he dealt.

Draco noticed her staring and looked down. He smiled softly. Virgo wished he smiled more. He had such a nice smile, but he thought it was unseemly for a Malfoy to grin.

“Oi,” he murmured, and pushed his hand down her thigh. “I’m bored, and I can’t stop thinking about this morning. Can I touch it again?” He had already reached her bare knee and was pulling her robe up.

“Don’t!” she hissed, looking around frantically. “Mother already lectured me about my robes being wrinkled once today. What do you think she’ll say if we wrinkle them up again?”

“But you said ‘anytime,’” he pouted.

“Well, I certainly won’t let you under my robes at the dinner table either,” Virgo deadpanned. “We don’t want Mother or Father to catch us.”

“Alright,” Draco grumbled. “But I’m going to sneak into your room tonight to do it then. _And_ you should lick my penis for saying no now. As a thank you for me being so understanding.”

Virgo laughed. “Understanding, yes. You’re so understanding.”

“I really am,” Draco grinned, pulling her closer.

* * *

“Move over,” Draco whispered as he climbed into her bed later that night. Virgo didn’t bother moving as she rubbed at her eyes. Draco always said that, and then ended up crawling over her anyway.

She was surprised that she had fallen asleep. She had planned to stay up waiting for him, but she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, on account of wondrering what Zabini’s words meant. She must have drifted off without realizing it.

“I had to wait until the kitchen elves went to bed. You know Gilly stays up with them sometimes.” Virgo looked out the window. It was still twilight, but Wiltshire in June was deceiving. It could be as late as one o’clock for all she knew.

Draco had settled on her other side just as she knew he would, before turning back towards her. Unceremoniously, he pushed the blankets down and pulled her nightrobe up.

“You’re not wearing knickers,” he breathed.

“Seemed like a waste, since I knew you’d just take them off again. And you said it was more comfortable sleeping without them.”

Draco wiggled around until he was kneeling between her legs. From the sparse light coming through the window, Virgo could see him swallow. “Do you like not wearing them?”

“Feels strange. But it’s a little… exciting, too.”

Draco nodded distractedly. He was still staring at her bare vagina. “You should sleep without them from now on. That way I can come in whenever I want to touch you.”

Virgo nodded, but Draco must not have seen it, since he looked up after a moment.

“Alright? No knickers anymore?”

“Alright! But you’re talking a lot about touching me even though you haven’t yet.”

Draco grinned, but grabbed her legs to pull them further apart. “Can’t decide what I want to do first.” But he shimmied down the bed so that his face was right next to her vagina, and pressed a finger into her hole.

“ _Eek_ ,” Virgo whined. “How are your fingers always so _cold_?”

Her brother snickered, wiggling the finger side to side in the hole. “We live in a _castle_. You’re so warm here, though. Maybe I should keep my fingers inside you all the time so they never get cold again.”

“Be my guest,” she yawned. She let her knees fall all the way open as her eyes closed tiredly. Even if she was exhausted, she certainly didn’t mind if Draco wanted to touch her. It was rather thrilling having his focus entirely on her. She knew he loved her more than anyone else in the world, but he was quite distractible. He rarely kept his attention on her for very long at a time.

“I think your hole can get bigger,” he murmured after a minute. His finger had continued wiggling within her with some unknown mission. “My finger can move around a lot inside, and even the skin at the top can stretch a bit.”

Virgo hummed. When he wiggled his finger in some ways, it felt strange, but when he pressed up, she liked it. She catalogued the new information interestedly.

After a bit more wiggling, he pulled his finger out. Virgo assumed he decided to move on to her other parts. Instead she suddenly felt something bigger trying to push in.

“Ow! What are you doing?” she hissed, sitting up to glare at him. His mouth was ajar.

“I can feel you moving!” he cheered, but sobered at her look. “I tried two fingers. And I got them in—part of the way, at least. This is so cool though, Virgo, when you move, everything presses in on my fingers and like, sucks them in. Does it really hurt?”

Virgo laid back down and considered. “Not as much now. But no more surprises!”

“So can I push them all the way in?”

“…Might as well.”

Draco seemed to be more careful now, pushing his fingers more slowly. “I can’t… oh wait. There we go.” Virgo felt him cross his fingers inside her, and they slipped further into her body. “What do you think?”

“You get deeper with one finger,” she murmured.

“Yeah?”

“So I like that better.”

“Mhmm. That _is_ nice.” He pulled his fingers out. She expected him to stick one back in, but instead he started petting the smooth skin near the hole. “What does this feel like?”

“Kind of like…. A tickle? But nice.”

“Yeah? What about up here?” He traced his finger along the larger flap of skin.

“Same, but less so.”

Draco hummed, and then pulled back the smaller folds of skin, rubbing around near it. Then Virgo felt something strange.

“Whoa! What was that?”

“What, that?”

Her hips jumped up to follow his finger without meaning to. “Yeah, that.”

“There’s a little bump I didn’t notice this morning at the top. You like that?”

“Yeah.” Virgo didn’t feel as bashful as this morning. It did feel strange, but she knew she wanted to feel it again. Draco started rubbing his finger back and forth aggressively against the spot, until it started to hurt. “Ouch, stop! That hurts.”

“Maybe I was pressing too hard?” Draco didn’t move for a minute. Virgo could feel herself flushing in the dark, thinking about him staring at her down there. “Can I try something else?”

“Yes, Draco.” And then she felt something warm and wet where he had just been rubbing. She looked down to find his eyes on her, with his mouth pressed between her legs. “Oh, Merlin!”

He pulled his head up. “Did that feel good?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t it taste bad, though?”

He shrugged. “Kind of like you said. Just skin, but salty. You bathed today, didn’t you?”

“Right before bed.”

“So I can do that again?”

“Sure.” He lowered his head again and she felt his tongue against that place. Her head rolled back to look at the ceiling. It _did_ feel good. She had never felt anything like it. And—oh—he did something with his lips. No, he was moving away—she reached down without thinking and pushed his blond head back to where he had been.

She felt him smile against her and looked down to meet his eyes. He didn’t look offended at her manhandling. In fact, she’d bet that he’d be smirking if he could.

“Keep doing that,” she murmured.

He did. His tongue kept swiping around down there. She wished he’d use his lips again like he did before, but that must have been hard for him or something. She thought about suggesting it, but she felt like she was muted, only able to lie back and see what he could make her feel. She couldn’t believe that it could feel this good. It just kept getting better, and— _oh, oh—_

“ _Unhh_ ,” she cried, as magic crashed over her. Her hips were shaking, and she could feel her legs closing onto Draco’s head as if to keep him there. It was like her body wasn’t her own, she was letting out sounds that didn’t mean anything. She wondered if she was possessed.

When it stopped, her legs fell open and Draco raised his head. His lips were shiny with spit. “What was that?”

“No idea,” Virgo breathed, letting her head fall back to the pillow. “But it was amazing.”

Draco was still for a moment before he began crawling up towards her again. “Can you lick my penis now?”

“What? Oh, sure.” Draco curled his legs under him to sit next to her head, and pulled up his night robe. His penis was sticking straight out again. Virgo wondered if he was lying about it ever being curled up.

She turned on her side and began kissing and licking up and down. She swirled and zigzagged, and kissed the hat and at Draco’s request, even licked the bottom where his bollocks were, but Draco didn’t experience whatever she had.

“Maybe it’s different for girls,” she murmured after Draco had said she could stop, and he had curled up behind her. Now that she knew what it looked like (and felt like and tasted like), she was hyper aware of his penis sticking into her. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just… there.

“Maybe,” Draco yawned, wrapping an arm tightly around her waist. After a moment, it drifted down her body. “Hey, you think you can fall asleep with one of my fingers in you?”

“Maybe,” she yawned. “Can you even reach?” Virgo pulled her night robe up as Draco stuck a hand between her legs. He fumbled a little bit before finding the place he wanted and pushed his finger in. In order to reach, he had to press tightly against her back until they were perfectly nestled together. His hand settled, cupping her private parts snuggly as his finger lay inside her. She started to close her legs, but her thighs squished his hand. “Does that hurt?”

“Hmm? No. My hand’s not going anywhere, though. You’re keeping it captive,” he chuckled into her ear. “Good night, Virgo.”

She relaxed into him. He always made her feel safe, but now she felt especially so, with him all around her and inside her.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, Draco’s finger was no longer inside her, and he was snoring away a couple feet from her. He must have taken it out in his sleep. He had fallen asleep before Virgo last night. She was too focused on the sensation of him inside her to sleep right away, but eventually she too drifted off to his even breathing.

Her night robe was still hiked up around her waist, though. Virgo was thankful that she hadn’t kicked the covers off, because Gilly was standing by the bed, waiting. She didn’t know how Gilly would react if she saw that Virgo had forgone knickers.

“Good morning, Gilly,” she yawned. Draco stirred next to her.

“Master Draco is in the wrong bed,” Gilly admonished. “Master Lucius and Mistress Narcissa do not like young master and mistress sleeping in the same bed.”

“He just had a nightmare, Gilly,” Virgo explained. “Back to his own bed tonight.”

“Not if I have my say,” Draco grumbled and then sat up importantly. “Gilly, I forbid you to tell Mother or Father when I sleep in Virgo’s bed or when Virgo sleeps in mine. And I forbid you from telling Mother or Father about this order.”

Virgo blanched. The house elves were under their command as well, but Narcissa and Lucius always said that if they found them abusing the privilege, they’d make them a house elf for a day. Virgo had never tried it before.

Gilly’s brown eyes widened, but she nodded. “Very well, Master Draco. Breakfast is being served in the West dining room. Gilly has picked out Young Mistress’ day robes. Does young master need Gilly’s help?”

“No, Gilly,” Draco sighed. “You are excused.”

As soon as Gilly popped out of existence, Virgo turned to Draco. “If Mother or Father find out you’re ordering Gilly to keep secrets—”

“Oh, don’t worry, I do it all the time, I’ve just never told you before. As long as you think through the loopholes, it’s safe. Now we’re free to sleep in the same bed whenever we want. You know Mother and Father would never come into one of our bedrooms uninvited.”

“I suppose,” Virgo sighed, and got up to start the day.

* * *

She shouldn’t have doubted her older brother. He was right, and no matter how many times Gilly found them in each other’s bed each morning, their Mother and Father never scolded them. Draco stopped bothering to even go to his room at night, and began retiring directly to Virgo’s room. Unfortunately, during the day, they were repeatedly forced apart, what with Lucius hiring additional tutors for Draco in the weeks leading up to Hogwarts, and lecturing him on decorum and what sort of alliances were useful at school and in life.

Draco still found a way to be there for Virgo during that summer, though. Two days after their research began, Virgo woke up to Draco gone, and her desk covered with books she hadn’t picked out, thrown open to random pages. On top was a note:

_Virgo,_

_The maiden of your constellation was once known as the Greek Goddess Astraea. Virgin, yes, but she was also fair, and smart, and good. She was devoted to her family but did not let them control her. She was stubborn, and when her family's descendants became ruled by mischief and wickedness, all her family disowned them and returned to Mount Olympus. Astraea alone stayed, not willing to give up yet. At last, she too left, but she made herself at home in the night sky, so she could watch over her descendants until the day it was time to return._

_Mother and Father may have named you Virgo, but I am naming you Astraea._

_Draco_

Tears welled up in her eyes. Draco could be petty and cruel and didn’t always pay attention, and he didn’t care about all the things she did, but he loved her, and she never doubted that. She looked around at the books strewn across the desk— _Lesser Known Greek Gods and Goddesses_ , _Mythology of the Night Sky_ , and _the Metamorphoses_ by Ovid. He didn’t like research like she did, but he’d do it for her.

That night, Draco was almost shy when he came into her room in his night robe. His eyes swung conspicuously over to her desk, where she had already cleaned up the books and returned them to the library. Virgo put the book she was reading, _How Slytherin Sets Students Up for Success_ , on the nightstand and turned back to him. “Well? Are you coming?” she asked, holding the blankets back.

He climbed into bed, but soon stilled, seated against the headboard. “Was there anything on the desk when you woke up?” he ventured at last.

“Oh yes, apparently _someone_ didn’t clean up after their research marathon.”

Draco relaxed. “Knowing you, I thought you might want to check my work.”

“I looked through them. Of course, I don’t know enough Latin to really read the section on Astraea in _Metamorphoses_ , but I think I got the picture.”

“Does it make you feel better?”

Virgo nodded. “Now anytime someone calls me Virgo, or even virgin, I’ll think of Astraea. I can be more than Mother and Father intended when they named me.”

Draco smiled, sliding onto his side to look at her directly. “You’ll always be more than anyone intended.”

Virgo blushed, but mirrored his body, so that their heads shared a pillow. “As long as I make you happy, I’m happy with myself.”

Draco’s eyes sparkled. “I can’t call you it in front of Mother and Father, but would it be alright if I called you Astraea when we’re alone?”

Virgo nodded. “Can you say it again?” she murmured.

“What? Astraea?”

She licked her lips and nodded again. She had never realized how much she didn’t like her name. Virgo was clunky in the mouth, harsh, but Astraea sounded like a song. In Draco’s mouth, it sounded like a secret.

“Astraea.”

“Again?”

“Astraea,” he laughed. “You really like it, then?”

“I really like it,” she confirmed. She curled closer to him, hiding her smile in his chest. He pulled her closer with one arm, but she was jostled after a minute by his yawning.

“I got up early to finish researching,” he explained sleepily. “I’m rather tired.”

“Do you not want to…”

He opened his eyes suddenly. “I want to. But I think I want to sleep more. Besides, I can anytime, right?”

“Anytime,” she confirmed, refusing to feel let down that Draco’s fascination with her body had ebbed. Figures, soon enough he’d be obsessed with chimeras or Quodpot or how to brew a babbling beverage, and he’d forget all about her. And she’d still be thinking about what it felt like to have his fingers in her.

She rolled around so she was facing the other direction. “ _Dark_ ,” she commanded, and the enchanted lanterns flickered out.

She had only laid down for a couple minutes before she felt his hand across her thigh. “I can still put my finger in you while I fall asleep, can’t I? Can’t I, Astraea?”

She was glad she was facing away from him, so he couldn’t see her grin as his finger nestled into her and his hand cupped her most private place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love getting comments!
> 
> For those who don't like commenting, but are interested in providing anonymous feedback, [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9) is a short google form survey for feedback on this chapter. Totally optional, no pressure!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer before Draco leaves for Hogwarts flies by.

Despite their nighttime activities, the summer sped away with Draco passed from tutor to tutor and Virgo attempting to keep herself entertained by her lonesome. Mistress Avery was quite happy with her progress on schoolwork, claiming that she thought Virgo was just as ready to go to Hogwarts as Draco was, but Virgo’s hope was short lived. In late July, only one letter arrived from Hogwarts. Draco was officially leaving her on September 1st.

She knew she should be happy for him, but she only felt betrayed that he would be leaving her to have adventures and make friends and learn spells while she would be alone in the Manor. For once, she intentionally broke her parents’ rules and took her broom out alone to fly around the grounds.

Draco found her like that an hour later, quite sweaty, but altogether less angry. She flew down to meet him, collapsing on the grass next to him.

“Gilly says you’ve been upset since my letter came.”

“Gilly should be ordered to keep her mouth shut.”

“Virgo Malfoy, you’d never,” Draco smirked, clasping her hand in his as he lay down next to her. “You know I’d take you to Hogwarts with me in a heartbeat. I have half a mind to just pack you up in my trunk and stow you away in my dormitory.”

Virgo frowned. “You’ll want to make your own friends and make the Malfoy name stronger on your own merit.”

Draco shrugged. “I’d rather have you, Astraea.”

At the name, Virgo melted, feeling her cheeks heat. “I know I should be excited for you, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I’m going to miss you. I’ve never been without you.”

“I’ll write you every day. You’ll know everything that happens. And I’ll need you to help me with classes. You’ll be my secret swot tutor.”

“Your younger sister is your tutor?” Virgo smiled at the sky.

“I’m a Slytherin—I use all resources available to me. I know you’ll probably read all my textbooks before I even leave for Hogwarts.”

“ _Someone_ needs to keep you on track. Otherwise you’ll spend all the time you should be studying looking up things like ‘the weirdest Quidditch injury ever reported.’”

“Oh, like you weren’t interested as well.”

“Sure, but I wasn’t the one who wasted three hours looking it up.”

Draco smiled. “I had to get a break from all the tutors. At least if it looks like I’m studying Father won’t bother me.”

“Does he know where you are now?”

“No. Gilly does, though. Father said I’d have a break until after dinner.”

“Good,” she murmured, squeezing his hand. “I'm quite tired of Father taking you away from me.”

They lay in silence, hand in hand, enjoying the sunshine and breeze and the birds singing around them. Eventually Draco spoke.

“You know how I look on the bright side of us being apart for a year?”

“How?”

“Imagining how great it will be when we’re both at Hogwarts. I’ll be able to tour you around the whole castle, tell you who to avoid, share my friends with you. There will be no Mother or Father to interrupt us or scold us, and we’ll be able to spend as much time together as we’d like.”

Virgo swallowed, and pulled her hand away. “I’m scared that once you go off to school you’ll realize you’re tired of spending so much time with your little sister.”

Draco turned over to look at her incredulously. “You’re barmy, Astraea.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

* * *

That night, Virgo learned that Draco hadn’t been lying about his penis usually being soft. As soon as he climbed into bed next to her, she was overcome with the desire to touch him and make him feel good. But when she crawled over him and lifted his night robe, it looked strange.

“Oh,” she murmured, tentatively touching the organ. As she touched it, it began to darken and change shape.

“Yeah. It’ll get there. It’s been hard a lot lately.”

“I never understood what you meant by hard. But this is… not hard.”

Draco gave her a look. “Lick it and I promise it will be soon enough.”

It already was less pliable, but Virgo did as he said and leaned down and put her mouth on the top. Curious, she sucked the whole head past her lips, tonguing the top. She felt the penis lengthen and straighten underneath her hands.

“Merlin, Astraea, that feels good.”

She let his penis pull out of her mouth with a pop. “Yeah?”

Draco ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. Licking already felt good, but… you keep surprising me. Can you fit more in your mouth?”

She looked back down, pumping her fist up and down his penis a couple of times. It was definitely hard now. She put her mouth around the top again and let it slide over her tongue. Her nose touched Draco’s stomach before she gagged and pulled off. As she caught her breath, she went back to licking up and down the rest.

“That’s so good, Astraea,” he murmured, brushing her hair out of her face.

She flicked her eyes back up to Draco. His gaze was intense, like he couldn’t look away. She returned to the top of the penis and locked her lips around it again, watching him. He licked his lips as his eyelids sagged. But he still never looked away.

* * *

The next week, Virgo managed to convince their mother that she should accompany her and Draco to Diagon Alley to retrieve all his school supplies. She had been to Diagon Alley many times, but she had never had reason to enter Ollivander's before. It wasn’t much to look at, from the old sign to the small storefront to the dusty interior. But everywhere she could see were _wands_. And a year from now, she’d have her very own.

Draco’s expression remained unimpressed throughout the entire affair, but Virgo had grown used to scorn as his default emotion when he was anxious. Soon enough, he was matched with a 10-inch, unicorn hair core, hawthorn wand, and he couldn’t hide his exhilaration.

Next came Flourish and Blotts, where they ran into Mr. Nott, who was picking up books for Theo. Draco and Virgo said their well-wishes before disappearing to the Quidditch section, where they contemplated a book on the youngest players to ever play in the British and Irish league. Soon enough, Narcissa was calling them away, having already paid for Draco’s textbooks.

From Slug and Jiggers they retrieved Draco’s potion ingredients. Draco pleaded for a new set of crystal phials, as the ones on display glittered like diamonds and were stopped with gold, but Narcissa pointed out that the set he already had was perfectly adequate.

Quite laden down, Narcissa called her personal house elf, Taruther, to retrieve their prizes, before continuing on down the street. “Darling,” she began calmly to Draco, “Madam Malkin’s is unfortunately still the standard for Hogwarts robes. You know I prefer Twilfitt and Tatting’s. Would you mind going in alone? Virgo and I really should get her some new robes for the end of summer send off the Parkinson’s are hosting.”

Draco and Virgo exchanged looks but acquiesced. There was one time where Draco had been welcomed to accompany Virgo and Narcissa for robe-shopping, but it had been years since then. Draco trudged into the storefront alone.

Virgo attempted to enjoy her Mother’s focused attention at Twilfitt and Tatting’s, but she was distracted, wondering how Draco was getting along on his own. Still, they quickly picked out a trendy charmeuse summer robe of sea green for the Parkinson’s party, along with three other robes Narcissa promised would come in handy at some point.

By the time they reached Madam Malkin’s again, Draco was looking visibly annoyed, pestering Madam Malkin on the quality of the robes in his hands, despite that he had obviously already paid for them. When he spotted them, he quickly abandoned the queries, to Madam’s apparent relief, in exchange for peeking in the Twilfitt's bag.

“I knew Mother wouldn’t let you leave with less than three robes,” Draco whispered as they exited back out into the sunlight.

“I hope this doesn’t mean I should expect formal tea service every day while you’re gone,” Virgo murmured back. “Most formal robes are so ghastly.”

“You always make them look rather nice,” Draco muttered as he sped up to catch up with their Mother.

Virgo assumed that they were heading back to the apparition point, where Narcissa would one by one assist them back to the manor. It was, after all, dangerous to apparate with multiple side-alongs. Instead, she stopped abruptly in front of Eeylops Owl Emporium.

“Mother? Do you need something for one of the Manor’s owls?”

“Not at all,” Narcissa answered, smiling. “I just thought you might like your own owl to send your sister letters while you’re away at school, as I’m sure she has demanded.”

Virgo grinned as Draco’s mouth dropped open. It felt like their parents had spent most of their time over the last several years keeping Virgo and Draco apart; it was a nice change to have their mother assisting their relationship for once. “That would be most tolerable, Mother,” Draco said carefully.

Later that night, Virgo lay back against Draco’s pillows with _A History of Magic_ open on her thighs. Draco had spent the last several hours waving his wand aroundand trying to do spells out of _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ , to moderate success. He quickly conquered _lumos_ and _nox_ , but his _alohomora_ needed work. Now, tired out, he collapsed at the end of the bed, still clutching the wand.

“You’re a proper wizard now, Draco, aren’t you?”

“I’ve always been a proper wizard, Virgo,” Draco gloated. “But having my own wand is a far cry from using charmed items or even stealing Mother's or Father’s wand. I can feel my magic at my fingertips.” Draco waved around the wand some more, releasing a trail of sparks.

Virgo shoved down her jealousy and returned to her book. Draco hadn't been exaggerating when he'd estimated that she’d be done with his books before he left in a month. She was already one hundred pages into this one.

The mattress wobbled as she felt Draco shift around, but she forced herself to continue reading. She had already spent too much time that afternoon watching Draco wave around his wand. Still, she was forced to look up when she felt his hand on her leg, pushing her night robe up.

“Hike it up for me, would you, Astraea?”

She put her book aside and did as he asked, until all of her pale legs were revealed, and the fabric pooled over her stomach. Draco pulled her legs apart like so many times before and lay down between them. Unlike the other times, he picked up his wand.

“What are you doing?” she hissed as he pointed it towards her vagina. “You better not be trying any of your new spells on me.”

“Course not,” Draco grinned. “Don’t you want to see how my magic feels?”

Virgo sighed, letting her legs relax to the side as Draco wielded his wand against her. She couldn’t feel anything at first, just the wand tip rubbing against the sensitive skin near her hole, brushing across the folds, but then she started as some sort of energy pulsed from the wand. Draco traced it up and down her skin, leaving tingling tracks in its wake. Then he pressed it against the nub at the top, and her hips jerked.

“Good, is it?” Draco smirked, pulling his wand back.

“I can feel your magic,” she allowed, waiting for his next touch.

Draco hummed and leaned forward, kissing where he’d just been pressing his wand. He didn’t use his mouth as much as Virgo did, but it wasn’t unusual when they had more time, although they hadn’t recreated whatever she had felt that first time he licked her.

After a quick kiss, he brought the wand back to prod at the nub, although it kept missing and bumping against other parts of her. Virgo just lay back, allowing the sensations to coast over her, even as she wanted to wiggle against his wand or mouth. Draco liked being in charge.

Soon enough, he gave up poking the nub, and brought the wand down to her hole.

“Be careful,” she murmured, knowing what he wanted to do.

He nodded, pushing it in slowly under watchful eyes.

It definitely felt weird. Even being reasonably springy and polished, the wood was hard and rough. She had gotten so used to his finger in her, she was surprised when it pushed past the place it usually rested. He stopped at her startle.

“Alright?”

She nodded. She could still feel it pulsing Draco’s magic. Even if it was hard and strange, his magic pulsed against the same place Draco had learned to rub when he was inside her.

He pushed it in a bit more, but then stopped abruptly. “I don’t like this,” he confessed. “I like being able to feel you inside.”

She shrugged. “It was your idea,” she murmured. “Put your fingers in me if you like, then.”

He smiled and pulled his wand out, returning it to the nightstand. “Ready for bed?”

“Alright,” she smiled, putting _A History of Magic_ on the other nightstand before crawling underneath the covers. Draco extinguished the lights and then settled next to her. As she was accustomed to, his hand ducked between her legs, pushing the fabric aside, and pressed his longest finger into her. This time, though, he sat up, pushing it in and out slowly, curling it gently against her. Virgo was tempted to point out that they could stay up longer if he wanted to continue to play, but eventually he lay back down, settling his hand tight between her legs as always.

“Yeah, I like this better,” he sighed against her neck.

* * *

The Parkinson’s sendoff party invited all the families of new first years (at least those that were respected) to a commemorative celebration on August 30th. The Malfoy family all donned their smartest (yet trendy and relaxed) robes and apparated to the party. Virgo and Draco quickly followed their parents first to the coat check and then to the hosts’ greeting line. Draco bowed regally and Virgo curtseyed prettily, Pansy nodded in acceptance, and the adults traded compliments and careful boasts.

Then came the mingling. House elves meandered through the room, offering fizzy drinks tasting of guava to the children, and a cocktail of firewhiskey, lemon, and gillywater to the adults. Draco and Virgo were introduced to all the familiar families as if they hadn’t been forced together every few months all of their lives. “Draco, don’t you remember young Theodore? His father has been such a great mentor to Lucius all these years. I think it’s a good bet that you two will be in the same house at Hogwarts!”

Still, there were some newcomers. Hannah Abbott was there with her mother, the children’s healer, despite her having ruined the family line’s blood with her husband’s muggle ancestry. Thankfully, Ermina Parkinson had undoubtedly phrased the invitation to exclude the father. The Browns had shown, despite that Mother referred to their family as “insipid” and “historically wishy washy.” Still, they were technically pureblood, so they always made the guest list, even if they seldomly accepted. Similarly, the Longbottoms and Macmillans received invitations, but it appeared they didn’t show yet again.

Draco and Virgo nodded politely, but soon enough, Mother gave them a fond nod as a signal that they could abandon pretense, and they rounded up their friends, saved Pansy from the sparse greeting line, and raced out to the small Quidditch pitch on the Parkinson’s grounds.

Virgo was used to being the only girl to fly with the boys, but still she received strange looks from the children who hadn't come to their parties before, and therefore didn't expect her to participate. There was a boy who introduced himself as Terry Boot who seemed torn between amazement and confusion, and even Blaise was constantly loitering. Virgo hadn’t forgotten his comments from the beginning of the summer, and adopted a frosty air around him, even if she was confident that she now had more understanding of the concept of virginity than he did.

“Virgo, you _can’t_ be intending to ride a broomstick in a summer dress robe,” Pansy called from the center of the girls seated on the sidelines. “Your mother would have fits. Completely unladylike.”

Virgo blushed. She had forgotten how cutting Pansy could be when she was hosting. Pansy craved being the center of attention. Still, Virgo certainly wouldn’t sit out of Quidditch just because her robe was shorter than the boys.

“What, you don’t know how to ride a broom like a lady?” she called back. “Perhaps you can learn a thing or two.” She mounted her broom side-saddle and kicked lightly off the ground, quickly crossing her legs at the ankles. It wasn’t nearly as stable, and she needed both hands on the broom to keep her balance while moving, but she could certainly do it. Draco and she had once raced around the manor without hands on their brooms at all. Not to mention the time that Draco's Quidditch instructor had suggested he learn how to roll, and Draco and Virgo had spent the afternoon flying around upside down.

Draco grinned at her, and mounted the side of his broom as well to join her in the air. He would take any chance he could to show off. “What do you say, lads?” he called. “A friendly match of side-saddle pick up, sans Bludgers, for all those of us who didn’t remember their Quidditch leathers.”

“Who will be Seekers?” Theo asked.

“Me, of course,” Draco answered.

“And me,” Blaise declared. Everyone turned to look at him. They all knew it was unwise to challenge Draco.

It was quickly decided that Crabbe and Goyle would be Keepers, as they were easily the largest, and the least adept at flying. Everyone was fairly confident they could at least hover in front of the hoops and block a fair number of shots with their bodies. Still, even with Virgo, Theodore, and Terry Boot as Chasers, they were short one.

“If you’re playing side-saddle, I’ll give it a go,” Daphne Greengrass announced, raising from the circle of girls. In contrast to the reception of Virgo’s participation, the boys and girls alike complimented Daphne for volunteering.

Draco nominated himself captain and quickly picked Virgo as his Chaser, Goyle as his Keeper, and unenthusiastically was left with Terry Boot to round out their team. The teams quickly assembled in the center of the pitch, and Pansy retrieved her family’s set of balls and sashayed out into the middle of the pack. On the count of three, she released the Snitch and tossed the Quaffle in the air, as the children around her pushed off the ground.

Virgo quickly realized that Draco had picked their team quite well. Gregory wasn’t an amazing Keeper, but he had always had a bit of a crush on Virgo, and therefore made sure to pass her the Quaffle whenever he made a save. And Boot might have been an unknown, and Draco was always doubtful of a wizard’s Quidditch ability when he had muggle heritage—how could they grow up with Quidditch with muggles around?—but Terry deferred easily to Virgo’s skill, and managed to always be in the right place when Virgo found herself covered by both Theodore and Daphne.

Unexpectedly, Daphne was quite skilled on a broom, despite not having the ball handling ability that Virgo did. Still, she easily kept up with Virgo, blocking her most of the time.

Zabini was also a surprise at Seeker. He wasn’t as lithe as Draco, and therefore not nearly as fast, but he used his size to his advantage and repeatedly blocked her brother whenever the Snitch was in sight. As a result, the match continued on much longer than their typical games, and Draco was steaming by the time he finally caught the Snitch.

“Shows you that a Seeker’s skill will always trump size,” Draco announced pompously to Blaise as they landed.

“Please, I let you catch it,” Blaise responded. “Your sister had already scored too many goals for the Snitch to make much of a difference. And didn’t you hear tea being served?”

Draco reddened, but didn’t respond. Blaise was telling the truth about tea being served; all the girls rose and began to lead the way back inside for tea service. Two house elves greeted them on the veranda, treating them all with cleaning spells for their sweaty skin and ironing charms for their robes. Still, Draco grabbed Virgo’s arm in the hallway and pulled her towards a bathroom. “Your hair is a fright; we have to fix it before Mother sees it.”

Despite being only a half bath, the Parkinson’s powder room had a long marble counter where two sinks were inlaid, in addition to a full mirror. Virgo scrutinized her appearance. The elf’s spells had even removed the redness in her cheeks, and while some strands had flown out of her braided up-do, it still looked quite chic.

“Never mind that, come here,” Draco murmured, grabbing Virgo’s other hand as well in order to push her towards the counter.

“Mother’s seen me much worse than this,” Virgo gripped. “I wasn’t even the only girl playing this time.”

“I was lying,” her brother explained as he released her wrists to grab her hips and lift. Virgo startled but quickly helped him boost her onto the counter. Draco pushed her legs apart, and Virgo, getting the idea, lifted her robe so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “No knickers,” Draco breathed.

“You like when I don’t wear them,” Virgo stated simply.

“I wasn’t sure if you just took them off at night. But now I know you were honest about allowing it ‘anytime.’” His mouth twisted into a smirk as he pushed a finger into her.

“I would never lie to you, Draco.”

“And I love that about you, Astraea,” he said quietly, pulling his finger out and pushing it in several times. “I think Zabini has a crush on you.”

“What?” Virgo’s head dropped back against the mirror as Draco began pumping his finger out faster. Sometimes he got like this. She didn’t like it as much as when he just keep his fingers inside her or cupped or licked her, but she liked the look in his eyes when he did it. “No, he doesn’t.”

“He’s not like Gregory, who can’t help being enchanted by how smart you are or how pretty your hair is. Goyle’s harmless. I don’t like the way Zabini looks at you.”

Draco stopped moving his finger in and out as his thumb groped around for her nub. Virgo jerked.

“He must be just trying to bother you,” she guessed at last.

“Well, he should know that I’ll never let anyone touch my sister,” he declared viciously, and started pumping his finger again. “Can I do two, Astraea?”

“Draco, we’re taking too long, someone will come looking for us.”

Draco stiffened. Virgo had the impression that he had forgotten where they were. “Oh, right. Well, later tonight, then.”

“Anytime,” Virgo murmured.

Draco nodded distractedly, looking down at where his finger was still inside her. Slowly, he pulled it out and stepped away. Virgo jumped down from the counter.

Her brother smiled softly as he reached a hand up to pat at her braid. “I was lying about your hair. You still look beautiful,” he said. “And you rode your broom quite ladylike.”

Virgo imitated her brother’s smirk as she tossed her nose up. “I’m a _Malfoy_ ,” she declared. “I do everything with grace and class.”

Draco chuckled and then led them out of the bathroom.

* * *

Draco and Narcissa spent the next day directing the elves in packing up his belongings for Hogwarts. Only one trunk was allowed per student, but Narcissa had bought one expanded with charms, which allowed the owner to step inside into their own walk-in closet. Still, they spent hours culling Draco’s wardrobe and book and toy collection down to fit.

Virgo watched this all from Draco’s armchair in his closet, pretending to read _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_. She both couldn’t stand to be reminded that her brother was leaving her the next morning and couldn’t stand to be away from him. So she spent the day following him and their mother around as they double and triple checked the manor for any belongings Draco might need in the next year.

They both had trouble sleeping that night. After their normal nighttime routine, Draco did not settle down with his finger inside her like every other night that summer. Instead, she was just drifting off when he started moving it again, pumping in and out, first slowly, and then faster and faster. Virgo just sighed and held her legs open wider for him.

Eventually his hand got tired, and he forced her to switch places with him so that he could fall asleep with his other hand inside.

Two hours later, she woke up from a dream to find him pushing her legs apart and licking between them. He licked up and down, up and down, keeping her in a limbo between pleasure and relaxation. Still, she dug her fingers into his hair and kept him there.

It was early morning when he woke her again, pushing a finger into her roughly. She groaned tiredly, but he just began to move it faster and faster again. After he got tired, he switched to the other hand and pushed two fingers into her.

They both were silent, even as he bent his fingers like she liked, even as she began petting his hair fondly. Eventually, he just lay his head down on her stomach and stilled his movements. After a moment, his shoulders began to shake, and tears dropped onto her stomach. Virgo continued to rub his head as the sun of September 1st rose over Wiltshire.

Hours later, they were both polished and controlled when they walked into King’s Cross with their parents. When the train whistle rang out, Virgo nodded her head solemnly. “Goodbye, brother,” she murmured.

“Goodbye, sister,” he echoed. And then he turned and climbed onto the train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've you like to provide feedback but don't like commenting, [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9) is a quick anonymous survey for feedback on this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four months apart brings some changes to Draco and Virgo.

Being at home without Draco was both easier and harder than Virgo expected. He kept his promise to write frequently, starting up September 2nd and finding something to comment on or narrate every day since. He was sorted into Slytherin, as expected, and already knew all of his dormmates from society events, as expected, but the narration of the ride across the lake and the Sorting Hat and the Great Hall and the ghosts and the Slytherin common room were so much more detailed than she could get from _Hogwarts, a History_ or her parents’ descriptions.

His letters described the Potions master Severus Snape, and the resident poltergeist Peeves, and the grouchy caretaker who spoke to his cat like a human, and the insufferable know-it-all in some of his classes, and the muggleborns who didn’t even know how to hold a wand correctly. He described getting lost on the way to Transfiguration and the old bat who took house points from him for it, and how terribly Crabbe snored, and how far a climb the owlery was from the Slytherin common room.

He talked about how Harry Potter snubbed his hand, and how the purebloods were outnumbered, and how Ron Weasley laughed at his name. He talked about how he missed home (and her). He talked about how cold the dungeons got, especially at night.

He didn’t have to say his fingers were cold without her there to warm them.

Draco wrote and wrote until Virgo felt like a ghost following behind him. She knew the names of his friends, his foes, his teachers; she knew his assignments, his pranks, his plots; she knew his dreams, his fears, his anxieties. But even so, she wasn’t there with him.

Moreover, she had so little to write back.

The manor had never felt so big and empty as it did without Draco there. Without him in her bed or even next door in his own room, her chambers felt massive. She could sit for hours in the morning before Gilly popped in to check on her. Her Mother and Father frequently had business away from the manor, and only asked her about her studies at dinner. The rest of the day was spent with various tutors, or with her head in a book in the library.

Virgo loved learning, but she didn’t love it quite as much when Draco wasn’t around to smile and nod as she recited her latest book to him.

Still, the days went by, and she found that she got used to waking up alone, to flying alone, to wandering the Manor halls alone. Desperate for companionship, she started talking to the portraits that lined the halls, the ones she and Draco had ignored all their lives. She found them surprisingly interesting. She especially liked the portraits of previous mistresses of the manor—the beautiful, dignified, and cutthroat wives of Malfoys past. She listened to their stories of triumph and excess, of infidelity and crime, of love and duty. They seemed to relish her audience, having spent so long on the wall of a manor that was relatively silent and empty.

Narcissa approved this pastime, thinking that Virgo was taking more of an interest in their ancestry and her familial duties. She wasn’t aware of the content of some of the stories. Virgo didn’t think she would approve of Vera Malfoy (née Peverell) telling her about the men she dated on the side during her marriage.

Eventually, the end of December came, and Virgo shrugged on her thickest cloak to accompany her mother and father to Kings Cross to pick up Draco. She could hardly believe he was coming back. She couldn’t contain her smiles. Lucius smacked her leg with his cane in admonishment as they were waiting for Narcissa, her toes were tapping so much.

The muggles stared at her and her parents as they glided from the apparition point outside the station to platform nine and three quarters. Virgo was accustomed to her mother getting long looks for her beauty and elegance, but it was strange to have the muggles stare in confusion and disapproval instead. Her family must have stuck out, what with Narcissa’s cloak shimmering with an otherworldly gleam, her pointed witch’s hat perched on top of her bright blonde hair, Lucius’ omnipresent serpent cane, and his robes cut with the same panache as Victorian suits. Next to them, Virgo felt strangely plain, just a thick wool cloak covering her from chin to feet.

Still, even when they passed through the barrier onto the Hogwarts Express platform, the Malfoys drew eyes.

The portraits of the manor had explained more about the family’s history than her parents ever had. “The purest-blooded of our society have always been zealously persecuted by those with lesser blood,” Brutus Malfoy lectured her weeks ago. “Our family has earned a bad name from the segment of Wizarding Britain that does not see fit to uphold the old ways. Even your father, just a decade ago, faced unfounded accusations...but he cleared his name.”

Virgo wondered if it was this family history that made wizarding families watch their family carefully, or they too were as awestruck and confused by their traditional dress and poise as the muggles they had passed were.

Thankfully, soon a bright red train was surging into the station, causing all the families to divert their attention to it. Smoke billowed around them with the noise of the engine, laughter and yells. Finally, the engine halted, and the carriage doors were pulled open as hundreds of students streamed out. Virgo stood on tip toes to try to see over their heads and find her brother, but as soon as she did, her father’s hand pressed on her shoulder to push her back down.

“Show some decorum, Virgo,” he hissed. “He will find us soon enough.”

Sure enough, Virgo soon spotted Crabbe and Goyle cutting a path through the crowd with Draco in tow, his head held high and his trunk levitating behind him. Virgo grinned, her heart beating swiftly in her chest. When Draco spotted her, something like a smile passed over his face, and he did not break eye contact until he stopped in front of her and their parents.

“My dear,” Narcissa greeted, cupping Draco’s cheek fondly. “How we have missed you.”

“Vincent, Gregory,” Lucius greeted. The boys murmured hellos quietly as they looked at their toes.

“Let’s find your parents, shall we?” Narcissa declared. “Oh, look, Geoffrey and Palmyra have already spotted us. Now where are the Crabbes?”

“I see them,” Vincent grunted, pointing down the platform. Virgo watched as her mother restrained herself from admonishing him for pointing.

“Hello, Virgo,” Gregory murmured. Virgo swung her attention to him. He was gazing at her earnestly.

“Hello, Gregory. Had a good term?”

Goyle opened his mouth to answer, but Draco interrupted. “Shall we go, then?” he asked their parents loudly.

“Draco,” their father scolded. Narcissa seconded the rebuke with only her eyes, but then she turned to greet the Crabbes and Goyles warmly.

“I have something to show you when we get home,” Draco murmured to Virgo.

Virgo felt herself sway towards him. She knew she’d be in for it if she hugged him like she wanted— so common. But now that he was _right here_ , she just wanted to sink into his body and inhale. “I missed you so much,” she replied in a whisper.

Draco did not respond or look at her, his expression cold and impatient as he waited for their parents to finish their requisite socializing. A bubble of hot embarrassment grew in Virgo’s stomach while they waited in silence. Perhaps Draco didn’t miss her as much as she had missed him. Perhaps he had only written out of a sense of obligation. Perhaps she had been right that he would no longer look quite so kindly on his friendship with his little sister once he had a school full of other children to play with.

Finally, the parents concluded their conversation of the upcoming Yule Ball and turned back to the children. Narcissa summoned Taruther and Gilly to take away Draco’s things before she and Lucius each grabbed a child’s arm and apparated them back to the Manor.

Before she had got her bearings again, Draco had seized her wrist and begun to pull her toward the stairs. They hadn’t gotten halfway across the entrance hall before Narcissa called them back. “Not so fast, Darling. Your father and I would like to hear about your fall term as well. The kitchen elves have prepared tea in the parlor for us.”

Virgo was quiet as Draco recounted some of the stories he had written to Virgo about. She nibbled on her strawberry scone and sipped her milky earl grey while Draco ranted about how unfair it was that Harry Potter got onto the Gryffindor team without even a try-out, how Harry Potter went running after a mountain troll and got points _awarded_ to him, how Harry Potter had rejected his offer of friendship only to associate with the worst sorts, how all the professors doted on Harry Potter, even though Draco was _sure_ he broke school rules like wandering around after hours.

Virgo noticed he did not mention _how_ he knew Potter was wandering after hours, nor the plots that he had hatched to get Potter to lose points for Gryffindor. Still, it seemed that their parents could read between the lines.

“I rather hope you are not speaking quite so zealously at school, Draco,” Lucius drawled once he had run out of steam. “You are aware of how fondly most of the Wizarding World feels about Potter… I will not let some childish rivalry reflect badly on the reputation I have tirelessly rebuilt.”

“But Father,” Draco whined. “I know you hate Dumbledore for being too soft on blood-traitors and muggle-borns. You’re a school governor; don’t you care about him showing favorites? Potter gets away with things I never could!”

“I _also_ hope that you would never be so indiscreet as to repeat my views on such subjects at school,” their father glowered. “The things I say in this manor are not for public consumption, and you would do well to remember that.”

Draco’s lips pressed together, but he held his father’s stare. Virgo and he both knew the punishment if they tried to avoid his eyes during a lecture. “Yes, Father.”

Lucius relaxed into his chair, exchanging glances with his wife. “I am not saying that you need to _like_ the Potter boy,” he continued more softly. “Just that if you find yourself with any ambitions to take revenge for his snub… make sure that you do not get caught.”

“ _Lucius_ ,” Narcissa hissed.

“What, you disagree, Narcissa? Don’t tell me you’ve reached a sudden moral high ground.”

“He’s eleven years old, Lucius,” she muttered, and then turned back to Draco. “I will be writing to Severus to request that he take a special interest in you, darling. If things are as you say, and your professors favor Mr. Potter and his sort over ours… well, you will need any helping hand that you can get.”

Draco smirked. “Professor Snape already sees my potential. He says he hasn’t seen such a talented potions student in all the time he’s been teaching.”

“Very good, Draco. But I will also be requesting of Severus that he keep your Father and myself informed as to your… conduct. Any plots against the Potter boy that bring shame to this family with result in punishment. Understand?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Good.” Narcissa turned to her husband and tilted her head slightly as to say _See how it’s done?_ Then she sighed and clasped her hands. “Alright, dears, you may be excused. Dinner will be served promptly at eight, we expect you in semi-formal dress in the East dining room.”

Virgo and Draco stood up quickly and filed from the room. As soon as they rounded the corner out of sight, Draco grabbed her hand and quickened his pace, until they were running up the stairs towards the bedrooms.

Draco pulled her into his bedroom and shut the door with a bang. Then he dropped her hand and ran to the windows. “How nice it is to be home!” he exclaimed. “This view! A closet! Privacy in my own bedroom!” He flopped back onto his bed.

Virgo didn’t move from where he had left her near the door. Stupid of her, she thought, to think that all Draco had missed was her. She had forgotten that when he filled his letters with comparisons of Wiltshire with Scotland and wrote _sometimes I wish I were home with you more than anything_ , he might actually just be wishing to be home, whether or not she were there.

“Why are you still over there? Come over here, Astraea.”

Virgo blushed as she heard the name pass from his lips for the first time in four months. She didn’t take her eyes off him as she approached the bed and sat herself daintily next to his legs. She didn't even know how to _sit_ around him anymore. Had she misremembered how casually they used to act around each other?

“I _said_ , ‘come here,’” he teased, and pulled on her wrist until she toppled next to him. And then he rolled over and pressed her against the bed with his body, his nose in her neck.

Virgo exhaled heavily and grinned at the canopy as she wound her arms around his back to hold him tight. How she had missed the touch of another person. She never wanted to move from his embrace.

“I missed the way you smell,” he mumbled into her neck. “None of the girls at school smell like you.”

“The house elves washed your sheets before we’d even returned from London the day you left,” Virgo admitted quietly. “I slept in your room the first few nights, but it just smelled like Taruther’s cleaning charms.”

Draco smiled into her neck before he raised himself onto his hands to look down at her. His grey eyes darted across her features. “You’ve changed,” he murmured. “Your robes aren’t wrinkled, and you didn’t squirm during tea, and I’ve never seen your hair braided like this.”

Virgo shrugged. “I’ve had to sit still a lot without you around to distract the tutors from lessons. And the portrait of Julia Malfoy near the garden has been teaching me how to do my hair.”

Draco smiled wryly. “Will you whine if I wrinkle your robes?”

Virgo’s heart thudded in her chest. “Depends on what you do to wrinkle them.”

“You know what I want to do.”

She swallowed. “I’ll always allow that.”

Draco grinned, and slid down her body to get off the bed. “Take off your shoes,” he ordered as he did the same. Virgo toed off her Mary Janes and heard them clunk onto the floor. “And your robes,” Draco added.

He had never asked that before. Virgo bit her lip but did as he asked, pulling the end of her robe up her legs and over her head. Her feet looked strange with just her socks, so she toed those off too.

Draco stared. “You’ve changed elsewhere, too,” he murmured, crawling back onto the bed. He cupped his hands over the small mounds that had developed under her nipples. “You’ve grown tits.”

“Tits?”

Draco nodded. “It’s what the boys at school call them.”

“Do you like them?” Virgo asked.

“’Course. Every boy likes tits.”

Virgo didn’t clarify that she was asking about hers specifically. “What did you want to show me?”

“Right.” Draco took his hands away from her chest and pulled off his robe.

“You’ve changed too,” Virgo commented as she reached out to stroke his penis. “You have so much more hair down there.”

“It’s gotten bigger, too.”

“Has it?” Virgo asked.

“What do you mean, ‘has it?’”

Virgo shrugged as she continued to pump, his penis lengthening in her hand. “It seemed pretty big in the summer, is all.”

Draco was quiet for a moment. “Whatever. That’s not the best part though. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Virgo frowned, inspecting his penis more closely. “You’re leaking,” she observed after a second. There was clear fluid coming from the top of his penis.

“Touch it.”

She did. It was slippery. She experimented with rubbing it all around the top of his penis, in faster and faster circles. Her finger glided through the liquid.

“That’s really good, Astraea,” Draco sighed, and then reached down to grasp his penis. He started pumping his hand up and down, more roughly than she ever had. “Keep touching the top for me.”

Virgo did, rubbing the top with fingers from both hands now, faster and faster as Draco sped up his movements. Curious, she started to sit up, tongue outstretched to see what the liquid tasted like. Just as her tongue started to lick into the slit where it was coming from, Draco groaned, and a new white substance burst from his penis to land all over her face and chest. She gasped, closing her eyes quickly, but she could hear Draco still stroking his penis, as the white liquid continued to spurt. After a few more beats, his hand stopped moving, and he groaned as he keeled over onto the bed next to her.

“Draco, are you okay?”

“Bloody brilliant,” he grinned. “That was even better than when I did it by myself.”

“What is this stuff?” Virgo licked her lips and swallowed the bit that had caught her in her mouth.

“No idea,” he answered brightly. “How’s it taste?”

“Kind of… like salty and creamy at the same time?”

“Merlin, it’s all over you,” he groaned, and then reached out and rubbed it into her skin. “I want to just spend all night wanking on you until you’re covered.”

“Wanking?”

Draco hummed. “That’s what it’s called when boys rub their penis and make that happen.”

“And it felt good? Like the first time you licked me?”

“So good. I bet you it was the same thing. Though nothing came out of you when it happened to you.”

“Definitely not.” Draco was still staring at her with that familiar look in his eyes, as he continued to rub the cooling white matter into her chest and face. He even swiped some off her cheek and stuck his fingers in her mouth. Virgo licked it off dutifully, but then she spoke. “Draco? It’s… a bit itchy.”

He stopped rubbing her skin, looking intensely in her eyes. For a moment, Virgo regretted saying anything. Then he spoke. “Can I do it just one more time?” he pled. “And then I’ll clean you up?”

Virgo bit her lip. “Alright, one more time.”

Draco sat up, but did not move his hand to his penis like Virgo had thought he would. It was still hanging limply between his legs. Instead, he rose to his knees and pulled Virgo’s legs apart to kneel between them. Then, for the first time in months, he pushed a finger into her.

Virgo arched reflexively. For the first weeks of September, she had tried to simulate the feeling Draco gave her when he played with her vagina or fell asleep with his fingers inside her, but she couldn’t replicate the way he held her or pressed her against the bed or his intense stare. She had forgotten how it felt.

Draco’s lips curved up. “You don’t know how much I thought of this at school.” He deftly pulled his finger half way out, swirled the tip around the edge of her opening, and then plunged back in.

“Really?” Virgo murmured, her eyes drifting shut. “Did you… think about it when you…when you wanked?”

Her brother groaned, wiggling his finger in a way that Virgo recognized meant he was going to put two fingers in her soon. “All the time. I imagined flying home on a school broom and surprising you in the middle of the night to stick my fingers in you or stick my penis in your mouth. I thought about you coming to Hogwarts next year, and how I could just find you anytime and… reach up your robes…”

Draco trailed off as he reached down with his free hand to fondle his penis, which had started to get hard again. His eyes trailed up her body.

“I didn’t imagine these, though,” he said, staring at her tits. He pulled his finger out of her to lean down and touch them. After a moment, he leaned down and lapped at a nipple. Virgo gasped and licked her lips, but he was already pulling away with a frown. “Ugh,” he groaned. “You’re right about the taste of my…” he gestured at his penis, and Virgo knew he was talking about the white stuff that had shot out of his penis.

“I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“Yeah? So you’d lick my prick again even if that stuff got in your mouth?” Draco reached down to rub at his penis.

“’Course,” she answered immediately, watching his hand. “Prick?”

“Another word for penis,” Draco answered knowledgably. He shuffled over her body until he straddled her stomach. “What do you think? Remember how to do it?”

Virgo shot him a glare, and propped herself up on her elbows to reach. Then she mouthed at the top defiantly as she looked up at him.

Draco smirked wider, even as his eyes closed. “Knew you would, Astraea. Such a good girl.”

Virgo blushed, but let her mouth open wider and moved forward so that half of his penis pushed across her tongue. Then she pulled out again to kiss and lick at the top. His penis—no, prick—was starting to leak again, but it tasted different than the white stuff. She didn’t know why, but she found that she liked the taste of it.

“Let me get some of that slippery stuff,” Draco murmured, as the hand that had been holding his penis steady began to move.

Virgo moved back slightly, allowing him to steal some of the wetness and rub it on the rest of his prick. When he came back a second time, she didn’t know what came over her, but she licked at his fingers.

Draco groaned. “Yeah, get my hand all wet, Astraea.” He held his palm out to her. She dutifully reached out her tongue, spreading saliva all over his palm and then sliding her tongue up and down his fingers, chasing the taste of his fluid. After a moment, he pulled his hand away from her, glistening, and began to move his hand up and down his penis quickly.

Virgo watched his movements, frozen for a moment, before she leaned forward once more. He was leaking more and more fluid now, and she just licked and licked at the slit it came from, until her eyes closed and she just locked her lips around the top while her tongue danced around and over and back and every which way. She didn’t know how she knew, maybe something about the way his penis twitched in her mouth, but she knew he was close to whatever happened earlier, and she wanted to make him feel good again.

“Bloody hell, yes,” Draco grunted only seconds later, and then her mouth was filled with that liquid. She pulled off him with a pop, irrationally surprised, as he continued to rain all over her. Eventually it stopped, and then his hand dropped and he sat back to rest his bum on her thighs. “I’m not going to want to go back to Hogwarts at this rate. Just stay here until September doing this with you.”

Virgo snorted, taking the opportunity while her brother was out of it to look at Draco’s body. He was skinny—he’d always been skinny, but his shoulders looked wider than she remembered them. His hair was longer, gelled back instead of styled around his face. She wondered if he was taller, too. She’d grown almost an inch while he’d been gone, and he always outpaced her. It made her wonder how tall he’d be when he grew up—what he’d look like, if he’d wear his hair long like their father or cut it short, if he’d grow up to be muscled or just stay skinny like he was now. She wondered if he’d smile more often when he was head of the household instead of her father.

“Draco,” she murmured as he flopped onto the bed next to her and closed his eyes. “I’m really glad you’re home.”

“Me too, Astraea, me too,” he replied, reaching blindly for her hand. She met him halfway and smiled fondly. He looked ready to fall asleep.

“But I’m still not letting you get out of cleaning me up. You promised.”

Draco snorted and open his eyes. “I did, didn’t I?” he sighed and sat up. “Alright, milady. I’ll get you clean in no time.” He grinned and walked into the ensuite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you're interested in giving anonymous quantitative feedback for me, you can fill out [this form](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).
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> Or you can comment! Or you can do neither! All the options.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Virgo make the most of their time together over Hogwarts' Christmas Break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some french in this chapter-- each phrase links to a footnote to translate. (I haven't taken french classes in ten years, so all french is from google translate.)
> 
> There's also a short letter in this chapter under custom formatting, so reminder that you can shut off the custom formatting with the "Hide Creator's Style" button at the top of the page.

Virgo woke up the next morning wrapped in Draco’s arms. The room was bright with sunshine, which meant that it must be quite late indeed, considering how late the sun rose these days. She lay still, watching Draco’s face. His mouth hung ajar, the slightest trail of drool clinging to his lip. Long, pale eyelashes twitched against his cheeks. And his hair, dried after his bath the previous night, stuck up in all directions.

Dinner had gone long the night before, as the house elves had pulled together a nine-course meal to celebrate “Young Master Draco’s return.” Both Draco and Virgo were yawning by the time the mignardises was served, and then their parents invited them to sit in the library with them to drink some hot chocolate before bed. Draco and Virgo attempted a game of chess while their mother and father read before the fire, but Virgo was sure Draco sacrificed his knight so that the game could end and they could go to bed. He pulled Virgo in silence to his bedroom, and they fell asleep as soon as they climbed into bed.

In the light of morning, the next two weeks stretched out seemingly endlessly in front of them, and the list of activities they could do together was vast. She was torn between waking him up at once to start and just lying here in his arms for the entire morning.

A small pop disturbed her reverie, and she peeked out of Draco’s hold to find Gilly at the foot of the bed. Virgo had gotten used to the silent, disapproving stare Gilly gave them whenever she found them in each other’s bed. As long as she didn’t reveal their secret, Virgo couldn’t be bothered.

“Good morning, Gilly,” she murmured quietly. Gilly pulled the bottom of her pillowcase out in an approximation of a curtsey.

“Good morning, Mistress Virgo. Mistress and Master be requesting young mistress’ and master’s presence for breakfast. Gilly is told Master will be tutoring Draco this morning on some Malfoy family history.”

Virgo sighed. Of course their father would schedule tutoring for Draco’s first day of Christmas vacation. She turned back to her brother to wake him. With the slightest smirk across her face, she reached her thumb up to Draco’s bottom lip and pressed down sharply, making it snap back against his teeth with a pop.

Draco jerked awake. One hand immediately came up to wipe away his drool, while the other tightened around Virgo’s waist. After his eyes blinked blearily a couple times he shot an unimpressed look at her devious grin. “Why, good morning, beloved sister,” he grumbled, burying his face in her neck.

Virgo laughed, wrapping her arms around him as he rolled playfully on top of her. “Couldn’t resist, _dear brother_. I had to wake you, Gilly’s here to fetch us for breakfast.”

“Is she,” he grumbled against her skin without looking up to greet the house-elf. “It’s the first bloody day of break.”

Virgo had noticed that Draco had changed in another way during his term away from her: he had started swearing. Mother and Father certainly wouldn’t approve of _that_. “Father wants to have lesson number thirty thousand of ‘How to be a proper Malfoy’ with you after breakfast as well.”

Draco groaned. “I bet _Potter_ doesn’t need to take lessons over break.”

“I bet Potter won’t inherit the wizarding world’s largest fortune in six years’ time either,” Virgo quipped back.

Draco raised his head to look at her. “You’re defending Father’s lessons? Really?”

Virgo shrugged. “I always found them interesting. Father hasn’t bothered teaching me anything since you left for Hogwarts. It’s all been more etiquette and fashion from Mother. You wouldn’t believe how much of Mother’s time is spent sending thank you notes. Thank you notes for invitations we accept, thank you notes for invitations we reject, thank you notes for guests who come to our parties, thank you notes for guests that bring a gift, thank you notes for a guest’s thank you notes. It’s ridiculous. I never realized how much work our owls get every day.”

“Sounds like you will be quite ready to be Mistress of the Manor someday.”

“Mistress of whatever property my future husband's family has, you mean,” she grumbled. “I swear, I might marry a penniless blood-traitor just to be rid of the obligations. No parties to throw when you don’t have a Manor, is there? You would give me the galleons to support us, wouldn’t you?”

“Perhaps,” Draco hedged teasingly.

Virgo rolled her eyes, even as a grin wound its way across her face too. When Draco became head of the house, Virgo knew he would give anything from the vaults that she wanted, regardless of whether she was married into another family. She was considering a comeback when Gilly cleared her throat pointedly. Draco and Virgo’s grins both fell as they sighed and looked over at the house-elf, who was standing in the same place she had been five minutes before, still waiting for direction.

“Yes, Gilly, tell Mother and Father to expect us in ten minutes,” Draco ordered. “And you should tell them that _Draco_ was _particularly_ difficult to wake, since it’s his _first_ day of break and he is quite tired from a long term of _studying_.”

Virgo snorted. Gilly curtseyed and popped away.

“I was hoping we would get time to ourselves this morning, after last night,” Draco murmured.

“Optimistic,” Virgo remarked. “Find me after Father’s done with you, we can go flying before it gets dark out. I’m sure you missed it while at school.”

Draco smiled, before sighing and rolling out of bed to dress for the day.

* * *

Christmas Eve brought a flurry of action to Malfoy Manor, as it was the night of their Yule Ball. Virgo knew from her sessions with her mother that the Flint family had been forced to cancel their ball in shame. Narcissa was very happy about this, and thus immediately sent a note to Dagmar Flint to “apologize” for the “mix-up” of their parties being “accidentally” scheduled on the same night, and to reiterate the invitation to theirs. Dagmar had replied that she had been “oblivious” that the Malfoys had scheduled their ball the same day as theirs and had only canceled the ball as a result of a “private family matter,” and therefore were not able to come to any ball that season.

It was all very Slytherin, and Virgo couldn’t imagine herself ever enjoying veiled sparring nearly as much as her mother did.

Draco had been pulled along on Lucius’ trip to Diagon Alley, where they would get his dress robes refitted for the ball. Virgo had been correct in thinking Draco had grown in his time away, and their father refused to let anyone see his heir in a robe that awkwardly gaped above his shoes.

Virgo had managed to avoid most of the hubbub by hiding away in the parlor on the third floor, where some of her favorite portraits were located. These portraits might not be in a place of prominence, or have a history lauded by the Malfoy lineage, but they entertained her and treated her like an adult. She was cuddled into an armchair listening to Florentina Malfoy (née Fawley) and Geneviève Malfoy (née Shafiq) gossip about the family secrets of all the attendees of tonight’s ball.

So far, the conclusions had ranged from the Nott family having a suspicious history of their wives dying soon after childbirth to the Parkinson family having lost most of their wealth on Perseus Parkinson’s unsuccessful second run for Minister to the origins of the Greengrass’ blood curse. Virgo was just about to request information about Carina Zabini’s mysterious backstory when an owl pecked on the window. She startled, before jumping up to let Aquila, Draco’s eagle owl in.

_Astraea,_

_Where are you? Father and I just got back from Diagon, and I can’t find you in any of your normal haunts. I’m not about to risk getting pulled into Mother’s decorating storm to search up in down the manor for you._

_Draco_

_P.S. I’m kidding about searching. If you don’t reply to this in ten minutes, I am coming to find you._

Virgo snorted. Sometimes she found it ridiculous that she lived in a house where she had to be found by owl because searching the entire house was too arduous.

“Who’s that from?” Florentina asked.

“Leave it, _espèce de comère_[1],” Geneviève scolded.

“ _Comme si tu ne voulais pas le savoir aussi_[2],” Florentina shot back. Virgo smirked. They always devolved into French at some point during their conversations. It seemed that two centuries of being on adjacent walls had allowed Florentina to become fluent.

“ _Mais je l'aurais découvert sans lui demander_[3].”

“ _Il me semble que la façon de Florentina nous a fait gagner du temps, n'est ce pas?_[4]?” Virgo asked. The two women turned to look at her with wide eyes.

“ _Cherie,_ you speak _français_[5]?”

“And you call yourselves gossips. My mother was a Black. Of course, she taught us French. And the owl was from Draco. He couldn’t find me and is too lazy to search the entire Manor for me.”

“I’m afraid we miss things being tucked away in the forgotten rooms of this monstrous castle,” Florentina whined.

“We only manage to get this century's dirt when my mother-in-law visits us,” Geneviève sighed. “ _She_ got a place on the ground floor by the drawing room. I suppose you get a place of honor when you actually manage to procreate before your untimely death. No, us barren brides get shunted to the tower.”

“Speak for yourself,” a male voice murmured from the other side of the room. Virgo twirled in her chair to find the first Lucius Malfoy, circa 1550, listening in on the conversation. “Some of us got shunted to the tower for simply aspiring to wed the first in line for the throne. It doesn’t fit this century’s narrative that a Malfoy ever hoped to wed a _muggle_.”

“We all have our crosses to bear, Lucius,” Florentina sighed. “Have you ever considered that the reason you are shunted isn’t your aspiration, but your failure? I’d think the Malfoy family might respect you if you had achieved your goal. They wouldn’t have their name attached to your royal children, incidentally.”

Lucius opened his mouth to reply, but the door to the study opened suddenly. “There you are,” Draco sighed. “Didn’t you get my owl?”

“Of course,” Virgo smiled. “But you said you’d give me ten minutes before you came to find me, and I thought I’d test your patience.”

Draco choked out a laugh before looking around the room. “This is what you do when I’m gone? Visit with the portraits?”

“Only those with particularly bountiful information,” Virgo smiled.

“You should take a page out of your sister’s book,” Florentina advised. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were a babe.”

“He’s grown halfway into a man while we weren’t looking,” Genevieve cooed. “ _Un homme maigre_[6], but a man nonetheless.”

Virgo giggled but rose out of her chair. “All right now, enough of that. You two behave yourselves. Or better yet, come watch the show at the ball tonight.”

“Well, now that we’ve gotten an official invitation, we’ll have to, won’t we?” Florentina winked at Virgo as she led Draco out the door.

“How was the fitting?” Virgo asked Draco once they were in the hallway.

He rolled his eyes. “An excuse for Father to lecture about using tonight to develop rapports from school. Honestly, I don’t know if that means ‘remind everyone they should respect you for how rich we are,’ or ‘don’t spend the whole night with Virgo.’”

Virgo laughed. “Probably both, knowing Father.”

Draco’s lips quirked as he watched her. “You have some time to spend with me before you need to get ready for the ball, don’t you?”

“Of course. You know I don’t take much time to dress.”

“I thought that might have changed, what with your newfound poise and etiquette and hair-styling skill.”

“Gilly will be doing my hair. As much as Mother has been pleased with my _newfound poise_ , she doesn’t trust me to do it for a real society event.”

“Fantastic, then we have plenty of time.” Draco grabbed her wrist and pulled her faster down the hallway to his room.

“I feel like half the time you’ve been home has been spent with you pulling me places,” Virgo joked as he shut the door of his chambers behind them.

“And the other half has been spent with our robes off,” Draco smirked as he walked towards her.

“Yeah,” Virgo smiled even as she blushed. “That sounds about right.”

Draco stepped closer to her. “So take your robe off,” he whispered.

Virgo bit her lip as Draco watched her, waiting to see whether she’d follow his direction. Silently, she hoisted up the bottom half of her robes until she had hiked it over her waist, and then pulled it over her head.

Draco smirked, pushing his hand between her legs to pet across the entire swatch of skin. “Take your shoes off and get on the bed.”

Virgo swallowed. Draco wasn’t stepping away from her, so she just turned and bent down to unclasp her shoes. She was just stepping out the first shoe when she felt Draco’s hand trail across her bum and then a finger pushed into her vagina from behind.

“Draco,” she whined, hands paused on the ground as she felt him push his finger in and out.

“Why did you stop, Astraea?” he asked. She could _hear_ the smirk in his voice. “I told you to take your shoes off.”

She huffed and moved to unclasp her second shoe, slightly off-balance as he continued to thrust his finger in and out of her. Once she had removed her socks, she huffed at the ground. “Can I get up now?” she asked dryly. “Honestly, I’m surprised you resist playing with me in front of Mother and Father, the way you can’t keep your hands to yourself when we’re alone.”

“I’m not stopping you from getting up,” Draco replied. “And I certainly _think_ about it with Mother and Father around. Can’t stop thinking about it, to be honest.”

Virgo slowly straightened, shuddering as Draco’s fingers hit new places inside her as she moved. His hand was turned the opposite direction than it usually was, making the feeling surprisingly foreign considering the amount of sheer time his fingers had spent in her. The rest of his hand was pressed underneath her bum, making her blush even more.

“On to the bed, now, Astraea,” Draco murmured, pushing on the small of her back with his other hand.

She began to step forward and felt Draco copy her. They shuffled to the bed, his finger rubbing systematically against her as her muscles moved around him. Virgo automatically reached out for the duvet, bending slightly to support herself when they got there, and she heard her brother chuckle, thrusting his finger several time forcefully. But then he pulled out.

“On your back, open your legs.”

She crawled onto the bed without looking at him, flopping against the pillows and turning onto her back. She stretched out across the bed with her legs apart like Draco had asked.

Her brother had pulled off his robe while she had gotten situated, and now he knelt at the end of the bed with his penis in hand. His mouth was caught somewhere between a smile and a smirk, as usual. He shook his head as he spoke. “Wider. Show it to me.”

Virgo pulled her knees up and widened her legs, until she knew she was displayed to him. Draco’s eyes flashed, and he fondled the top of his prick once before dropping it and crawling forward.

“Perfect, Astraea.” He reached out with his thumb to rub gently at her nub. Virgo bit her lip. They still hadn’t made her have that exploding feeling again, but it still felt good, and Draco loved that.

He grinned and lowered his mouth to lick there, kissing and swirling this tongue. Virgo closed her eyes and let her hand press into his hair. Draco had stopped wearing all the gel in his hair once he saw how Virgo always messed it up after they played together, and his blond locks were soft in her hand.

Too soon, he pulled his head back and looked at her. “I had an idea this morning,” he began, as he reached down to hold his penis.

He didn’t volunteer anything else, and just shuffled forward until his knees were as close to her as he could get them. He frowned, and then grabbed her thighs and lifted so that most of her body was in the air, and then shuffled around again until her bum rested on his thighs.

“Your knees are bony,” Virgo whined.

Draco grabbed a pillow from the stack and started to push it under Virgo’s back while she arched up. When she lay back down, his kneecaps were no longer digging into her skin.

“Comfortable, princess?”

She grinned and nodded. “What’s your idea?”

A look of concentration came over his face as he grabbed his penis again, pointing it in between her legs until she felt it touch where he had just been licking. The top of his penis was wet with that clear liquid he’s been dripping, and it let them slide against each other smoothly. He twirled his penis around that nub in circles while Virgo tried not to let her hips rock too much.

After a minute he let go of his penis, and it flipped back up against his stomach. As expected, Draco pushed a finger into her. He could never keep his fingers out of her for long. “You know how we tried, that first time, to get my prick in here?”

“Yeah?”

“You think we could try again?”

Virgo bit her lip. She’d always loved the idea of him being inside her, and based on how much he liked her sucking on him, he’d really like the sensation, but she just doesn’t think it’d fit. “Draco, you said you’ve gotten _bigger_ , and I don’t think I’ve changed down there.”

“But I’m so much better about getting two fingers in you now, aren’t I?”

It was true, Draco was much gentler now when he pushed two fingers in, but it still hurt a bit. “Your penis is bigger than two of your fingers.”

“Look, I just want to try it. I’ll stop as soon as you say it hurts too much.”

Virgo sighed. “Alright.”

He grinned. “You’re the best sister ever.”

“But you better put two fingers in me before you try sticking _that_ in.”

“Of course,” Draco purred, already pushing one finger in and out and in circles in preparation for the second. Before long, he was pushing the second in, starting with them crossed and then dancing them around. “Alright?”

“Sure.”

He grinned, grabbing his prick and lining it up to push forward. Virgo suddenly had déjà vu, remembering the first time they did this, and Draco couldn’t even figure out how to lean back so that he could see what he was doing. They had learned so much in six months. She suddenly wanted this to work.

She felt the tip of his penis press against her and startled. “You’re so wet.”

“Yeah, well, this is bloody hot,” Draco murmured. “I’ve been wanting to try this again for months. How’s this feel?” He rubbed the tip of his penis in circles around the rim of her hole.

“Fine. You can try pushing it in.”

Draco inhaled and started to push forward. Virgo wasn’t kidding when she said he was wet. It was making the slide much smoother. She could feel him pressing, stretching her hole more than it had before. “It’s going in,” Draco breathed.

It was true, Virgo could feel the top of his penis pressing just inside her hole. But then the pain started. She tried to hold off saying anything for a moment, but the more he pressed, the more it hurt, and she cried out. “Wait, no, stop.”

Draco groaned, and Virgo couldn’t tell if it was in pleasure or disappointment. “The tip’s in, though,” he remarked after a moment. “Does it hurt if I just keep it like this? It feels so good for me, Astraea, you wouldn’t believe.”

“Not too bad,” she answered feebly. She watched as Draco closed his eyes, and his hand started to move up and down his prick. She felt his hips start to move, pulling slightly out before pushing the tip back in again, until he had started a rhythm. It hurt, but Virgo couldn't take her eyes off him.

“ _Yeah_ ,” he groaned, his hand flying faster and faster over the rest of his penis as his hips rocked against her. Virgo could feel the liquid coming from him dripping down her crack towards her butthole. “ _Bloody—unhhh_.”

Warm liquid suddenly burst into her body, as Draco twitched and jerked with pleasure. As his hips stuttered, she could feel his penis come out of her, spreading the white stuff all between her legs and across her pelvis.

In the last few days, Virgo had gotten used to Draco collapsing on top her after he spilled, but this time Draco just open his eyes and looked at the mess. “Salazar, it’s all over you,” he commented brokenly.

He used the hand that had been holding his penis to rub down the valley between her legs. She could feel him spread the mess everywhere he touched.

“I can’t believe I shot it inside you,” he breathed. “It’s dripping out of you.”

“Yeah, I feel it inside me.”

“Yeah?” He scooped up some that had gotten onto her pelvis where the smallest amount of hair had started to grow, and shoved his fingers into her. “Merlin you’re so wet inside.”

Virgo waited while Draco continued to thrust his fingers, making a weird sound. When he stopped that and began rubbing it all over her skin, she spoke. “Remember you have to clean me up afterwards.”

“Yeah,” he repeated distantly. And then he lowered his head to start licking the mess of her skin.

Virgo yelped. “I thought you didn’t like the taste!”

Draco hummed. “You end up tasting it all of the time,” he said against her skin. “Anyway, it’s… worth it.” He groaned quietly and moved lower, until he was pushing his tongue into her to catch the liquid still dripping from her.

Virgo let her head fall back against the pillow. Her mother had reminded her to clean up before the ball, but Virgo didn’t think this was what she was talking about.

She might as well enjoy it, though.

* * *

Footnotes:

  1. _espèce de comère_ = you gossip Back to Story
  2. _Comme si tu ne voulais pas le savoir aussi_ = Like you didn't want to know too  Back to Story
  3. _Mais j'aurais découvert sans lui demander_ = But I would've found out without asking her  Back to Story
  4. _Il me semble que le façon de Florentina nous a fait gagner du temps, n'est-ce pas?_ = It seems to me that Florentina's way has saved us some time, doesn't it?  Back to Story
  5. _Cherie_ = dear; _français_ = french Back to Story
  6. _Un homme maigre_ = a skinny man  Back to Story



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The anonymous feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9), but you can also drop a line in the comments if you are so inclined.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience on this chapter! It gave me a bit of trouble, as there were a few different directions I could see it going in. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts!

Two hours later found Virgo and Draco standing in the greeting line in their Great Hall as orchestra music rang out of the adjacent ballroom. Every minute another witch or wizard would appear in the hall’s fireplace, where Gilly stood ready to clean their robes of soot.

Virgo was dressed in a long scarlet robe, closely fitted around the bodice but wide like a traditional ball gown below her waist. Next to her, Draco complemented her in robes of green. The colors made Virgo feel like they were more fit as decorations than as children, but considering she had spent the last half of an hour curtseying on cue and smiling tightly, it seemed apt.

Conversation and polite laughter were already spilling out of the ballroom. Dancing would not begin until after dinner was served, but all the most influential and wealthiest and purest-blooded of the wizarding world were here. Already amongst them were Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, a number of prominent business owners in Diagon Alley, the French foreign minister, the Chair of St. Mungo’s Hospital board, and the highest-ranking human at Gringotts bank.

All of Draco’s Slytherin classmates were here with their families, and Virgo had seen a few children who would enter Hogwarts with her next September, including Caecius Avery and Jebediah Tuft. Unfortunately, many of the girls her age Virgo actually got along with were snubbed from the guest list (and those of many of the Malfoy parties), because they were the daughters of convicted Death Eaters. Abilene Rookwood had always read something interesting to talk about, and Lindsay Travers was surprisingly sweet.

Finally, the procession from the floos slowed, and their Mother and Father politely herded the stragglers into the ballroom. Already opulent, the ballroom was decorated with seemingly thousands of fairies glittering above them. House elves clad in finely starched pillowcases with the Malfoy crest embroidered flitted around the room, levitating plates of hors d’oeuvres ahead of them. In one corner, the orchestra sat, made up of forty witches and wizards and a few goblins dressed in traditional black and white robes. In another, a full bar had been conjured, where two bartenders amused guests with tricks and flourishes all whilst making drinks faster than the naked eye could discern.

Draco held out an elbow to Virgo to officially make their entrance behind their parents. The music stopped, and Narcissa and Lucius each smiled demurely and nodded, respectively, while making their way to the front of the room. When they had made their way through all the guests, Draco and Virgo came to a halt next to their parents as they turned back to address the room.

Narcissa raised her wand discretely to her throat as Virgo heard her murmur, “ _Sonorus_.” When she next spoke, her voice rang clearly through the room. “Welcome to the Malfoy family’s three hundred and seventh annual Yule ball. I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves so far, but the celebration is just starting. But first, some acknowledgements. Our musical entertainment tonight is the Vienna Magical Philharmonic, one of the very most lauded orchestras in the world. The drinks are courtesy of two talented bartenders of Diagon Alley’s hottest new restaurant, Cadogan’s Pony. And finally, all the food tonight is made under the direction of French chef, who needs no introduction in either our world or that of the muggles, Paul Bocuse.”

There was much murmuring from the adults at the name. Virgo knew Narcissa had to call in multiple favors to get the esteemed chef to come out for the night to direct their house elves.

“As we all know, Yule was seen by our ancestors as the time when our magic was the strongest. We celebrated the gifts our magic allows with plentiful food and drink. This practice symbolized that when the earth has frozen over and the animals have gone into hibernation, magic can still provide. For that, I must ask you all to raise your glasses to toast what all bonds us together: magic. May the magical world share another year of peace and prosperity. Cheers.”

The room all rose their glasses and echoed the word. Narcissa smiled.

“Now, there will be more time to mingle after dinner. If each of you hold out your hand, an arrow will appear in your palm to lead you to your assigned table. Enjoy.”

Virgo and Draco held out their hands in synchronization. Virgo was surprised to see that their arrows were pointing in the same direction. They followed them to a table adjacent to the dance floor, but far from the bar. Many of Draco’s classmates were already taking their seats at the same table. Draco discretely pulled Virgo by the elbow to two empty seats and pushed her into one as he took the other.

As soon as they had settled, the seat next to Draco was abruptly pulled back, and Pansy Parkinson plopped into the chair. “Hello, Draco,” she simpered.

“Hello, Pansy,” he echoed.

Her smile flattened a bit as her eyes moved onto Virgo. “Virgo,” she greeted simply.

Virgo resisted rolling her eyes. “How marvelous to see you again, Pansy,” she replied with saccharine sweetness.

Pansy’s eyes tightened slightly. The two girls had never seen eye to eye, being of quite different personalities, and Virgo had the distinct impression that she just confused the other girl.

She looked around the rest of the table. Tracey Davis was seated next to Pansy, and Theodore Nott next to her. Rounding out the table were Jebediah Tuft and Daphne Greengrass. Daphne smiled warmly at Virgo, and the younger girl recalled their Quidditch match that summer. Perhaps they had more in common than Virgo had once thought. Just then, the empty chair next to her was pulled out, and she found Caecius Avery falling into the seat.

“I picked the worst time to use the loo,” he murmured jovially. “Missed the toast and the instructions. Father’ll be pissed off.”

Virgo grinned crookedly. “Hello, Caecius,” she greeted.

“Virgo, pleasure as always,” he smiled. “Draco, hello.” He nodded in greeting to everyone else at the table.

“I wonder why Blaise isn’t with us?” Pansy interjected loudly.

Virgo looked around. In the back corner was another table of children their age. Blaise was accompanied by Vincent, Gregory, Millicent Bulstrode, Selma Runcorn, and another boy Virgo’s age, Dustin Rowle. Virgo resisted giggling. She had no doubt that the seat placement was Narcissa’s small vengeance for Blaise calling Virgo “virgin” that summer. Whether or not Narcissa viewed it as a compliment, Virgo knew her mother would not approve of children trying to tease her spawn.

“Just the luck of the draw, I suppose,” Draco postulated. Virgo observed that he didn’t seem at all upset about his classmate being separated from their usual crowd. Luckily, at that moment, Caecius finally took his napkin from his place setting to drape over his lap, just as the rest of the table had when they sat down, and immediately the amuse-bouches appeared.

“What is it, do you think?” Jebediah asked.

“ _Escargots à la bernaise_ ,” Virgo recited from memory.

“Snails with a sauce of shallots, butter, egg yolk, and vinegar,” Draco translated.

Jebediah made a face, but everyone around him had already picked up the ceramic soup spoon that the snail was served in and slid it into their mouths. Many of the children made pleased noises.

“Go on, now, Jeb,” Caecius prodded. “The sauce is brilliant, you won’t even realize you’re eating snails. Besides, the next course won’t show up until after you’ve tried it.”

Tuft sighed and tentatively took the smallest nibble of the snail. Then he wrinkled his nose and placed the spoon back on its small plate. “Not my cup of tea,” he announced definitively.

As soon as he made the pronouncement, the plates all disappeared, and small cups of soup appeared in their place. “ _Soupe de courge et panais_ ,” Virgo identified.

“Squash and parsnip soup,” Draco explained casually as he picked up his soup and dug in.

“So, Virgo, are you excited for Hogwarts in the fall?” Caecius asked as he raised his spoon to his mouth.

“Absolutely,” Virgo smiled. “I’m lucky to have smashing tutors and a wonderful library here, but I can’t wait for the ability to take so many courses with real professors.”

“And to do real spells,” Caecius added. “It’s cool enough to read about them, but to do them…”

“You’re saying that you’ve never borrowed anyone else’s wand?” Pansy interrupted. “Before _I_ started at Hogwarts, I must have stolen mum’s wand every other day to practice.”

“Are you kidding? My parents would skin me alive,” Caecius admitted jovially. He did not seem at all perturbed by Pansy’s mocking tone.

Pansy redirected her attention to Virgo. “Well, Draco _must_ have let you try out his wand, Virgo. Hasn’t he?”

Virgo and Draco exchanged bemused expressions. “I’ve never asked,” Virgo admitted.

“Of course, you can give it a go,” Draco allowed. “All the better for you to help me with my Christmas homework and revision.”

“I can’t believe the amount of work Professor Snape has assigned us,” Tracey groaned. “Just because the man doesn’t have a life outside of Hogwarts doesn’t mean _we_ don’t.”

“You really shouldn’t speak that way about our head of house,” Theodore chided calmly.

“It’s only us Slytherins here, I would never say anything against him in front of any of the other houses,” Tracey defended.

“What do you think, Jeb and Virgo, are you going to sort Slytherin?” Caecius asked.

Before either of them could answer, Pansy interjected. “Malfoys have _always_ sorted Slytherin; everyone knows that. The Sorting Hat had barely touched Draco’s head before it sorted him, remember?” She looked at Draco for corroboration.

“We’ll see,” Virgo said vaguely. She hated the idea of being the black sheep of her family, but in her heart of hearts she knew that she didn’t fit the typical bill of a Slytherin. Unless the Sorting Hat counted her ambition to stay in the same dorm as Draco for something.

“I’m definitely a Slytherin,” Jebediah announced. “Frankly, I can’t even imagine being in any of the other houses. Show-offs, swots, and sissies? No, thank you.”

“I don’t think Ravenclaw would be too bad,” Caecius volunteered. “You’d always have someone to help with schoolwork, at least.”

“I was almost sorted Ravenclaw, actually,” Daphne revealed mildly.

“What? I didn’t know that,” Tracey exclaimed. “Although, now that I think about it, you were up there for longer.”

“What made the hat finally decide on Slytherin?” Caecius asked.

“I suppose it realized that I study to get ahead, rather than for knowledge’s sake,” Daphne pondered. “It sounded like it could go either way, to be honest. I think the hat lets our preference impact its choice more than we know.”

“You’d pick to be with me in Slytherin, wouldn’t you?” Draco whispered in Virgo's ear.

Virgo smiled and elbowed him lightly, not bothering to answer. They both knew she would.

The conversation flowed fairly easily for the rest of the dinner, only interrupted for identification of the different courses that were appeared in front of them. Virgo had become used to the extravagance of such meals through her life, but it was clear that not everyone at the table was used to such elaborately long meals. Caecius grew confused when mint and lemon sorbet appeared as the palate cleanser (“This is the dessert?” he had asked Virgo confusedly) and Virgo saw even Pansy shrug when Tracy whispered to her “how many more do you think there are?”

But eventually, the mignardises were served, and the music began shortly after. Virgo saw her father lead her mother onto the dance floor to begin a waltz, and many couples began to join them. Draco turned to her. “Shall we?” he asked with a smile.

Draco and Virgo had danced together countless times over the years, both at these balls and in dancing lessons. Still, this year felt different. Draco’s arm was tighter around her waist, and he hardly took his eyes off her.

“You look beautiful, Astraea,” he murmured a minute into their dance. Virgo blushed. When she had dressed in her robe that night, and Gilly had arranged her hair, she had wondered what Draco would think of her. To hear him whisper such compliments made her shiver.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“You aren’t going to tell me that I look nice?” he asked with a smirk. His grey eyes seemed to glitter.

Virgo grinned. “You look nice, Draco,” she parroted. Then, more genuinely, she commented, “Your hair isn’t gelled back.”

Draco broke eye contact as his cheeks pinked slightly. “By the number of times you’ve mussed it, I thought you must dislike it.”

“I always think you look nice, Draco,” she murmured. Draco met her eyes again with a small smile. “But I do like it without the gel better. You look softer.”

“Well, if it makes you happy…”

Just then, the music ended, and everyone stepped back from their partners to clap for the orchestra. Draco and Virgo turned away from each other. They both knew it was their duty as children of the hosts to find different partners.

No sooner had Virgo turned back to the table than a hand was offered to her. She looked up to find Blaise, dressed in a black dress robe with red accents and a roguish grin. “May I have this dance?”

Virgo curtseyed and accepted his hand silently. She knew her mother would have words for her if she denied the first boy to ask for a dance. But she didn’t trust Zabini.

But she had gotten better at playing her part. “How was your dinner, Blaise?” she asked as they began their dance.

“The food was delicious, of course,” he murmured. “Not that I’d expect any less from your family’s parties.”

“I’ll pass on your compliments,” Virgo promised calmly, beginning to look around the dance floor behind Blaise’s shoulder. Her father had begun dancing with Cornelius Fudge’s wife, while Narcissa was being led around the floor by Mr. Nott. Meanwhile, Draco had chosen Pansy as his next dance partner, although it seemed that she was paying quite a bit more attention to him than he was to her. When Virgo looked over at them, she found her brother staring at her and Blaise over Pansy’s shoulder.

“The company could have been improved, though,” Blaise continued, drawing Virgo’s attention back to himself. “Your table had all the prettiest girls.”

“Well, I’ve always found Selma to be very interesting,” Virgo responded, simply to be confrontational. Admittedly, she’d only had a few conversations with Runcorn over the years, although she did seem smart.

Blaise snorted, and then seemed to catch himself, realizing that she hadn’t meant it as a joke. He tried another tactic. “You look very beautiful tonight.”

Despite that it was nearly identical to Draco’s praise, Blaise’s compliment did not give her any of the same satisfaction as her brother’s had. “The benefit of my mother’s perfectionism is that I end up looking quite nice after her tailor and stylist are done with me.”

“I don’t think it’s the robe,” Blaise replied. Virgo frowned. He really was trying very hard, wasn’t he? He must be very eager to make Draco mad if he was making all this effort to pretend to flirt with her. “I have no doubt that you’ll be a very beautiful woman when you’re older.”

The music stopped with perfect timing, as Virgo had no idea how to respond to that. She stepped back from Zabini and clapped, and then started to return to the table yet again. Yet again, she was cut off. “Dance, Virgo?” Gregory Goyle grunted.

“Sure, Greg,” she answered. He hadn’t held out his hand, so she took it and brought it around her waist, before clasping the other one in her hand. She had never seen Goyle dance.

It quickly became clear that Goyle _couldn’t_ dance. He swung her around without any grace or footwork. When he stepped on her toes and she winced, he admitted, “Draco asked me to ask you to dance. At least, that’s what I think he was saying. He was just mouthing and pointing at you and Blaise.”

Virgo laughed. “I’m sure you were right.” Then she winced, because Goyle stepped on her toes again.

“I don’t know why _I_ had to do it. I can’t dance. I must look like an idiot.”

He stepped on Virgo’s toes again, but this time she tried to hide her wince. “No one’s paying attention to our dancing, Greg. As long as we don’t bump into anyone, no one will even notice us.” This wasn’t completely true, but what Greg didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

“You think?”

“Of course. And you shouldn’t insult yourself like that. It only gives other people the idea to insult you.”

Goyle snorted. “People already insult me. You should hear what people say at school. They think Vincent and I are dumb just because Draco talks more than either of us do.”

“Draco would talk more than Merlin himself when he’s in the mood to show off.”

Goyle smiled, showing his crooked front teeth. “ _You_ never insult me, though. That’s what I like about you, Virgo.”

Virgo giggled. “Thanks, Greg.” He managed to only step on her toes once more before the song ended. Still, when it ended, she smiled genuinely at him. Blaise’s dancing was heads above Greg’s, but Greg was sweeter.

Finally, the coast was clear so that she could walk off the dance floor (and nurse her toes.) When she got back to the table, she was surprised to find that Daphne was the only one still seated. Virgo took the seat next to her, now in a better position to watch the dance floor. She found Jebediah dancing with his mother, and Caecius with Tracey, before spotting Pansy and Draco.

“Draco’s dancing with Pansy again?” she blurted out before she could think better of it.

Daphne smirked. “I think he was intending to ask me to dance, since he had already danced with Pansy and Tracey, but she just got up and took his hand before he could get any words out.”

Virgo giggled. “Well, at least we know Draco’s able to be a gentleman.”

They were silent for a moment before Daphne spoke. “You know Pansy has been after your brother forever, right? I mean, she seems to really like him.”

“Please, the Parkinson family have been barely skating by since Perseus’ failure at getting a second term in 1733. She’s probably just dreaming of being married into the Malfoy fortune.”

Daphne snorted. Virgo immediately realized what she’d said.

“Don’t tell her I said that,” she pleaded.

“I wouldn’t dare. Pansy would take it out on me just for repeating it. Anyway, it’s nothing I haven’t thought myself. I’ve just never heard anyone say it.”

Virgo bit her lip. “One of these days I’m going to get myself in trouble.”

“Like you haven’t already,” a familiar voice drawled. Virgo hadn’t realized that the song had ended while Daphne had been speaking, and Draco had returned. “Daphne, may I have this dance?”

“I suppose,” Daphne threw Virgo a wink and let Draco lead her out to the dance floor.

* * *

“Salazar, my feet are tired,” Draco groaned as he pulled off his shoes later that night.

Virgo smiled fondly as she kicked off her own. “Gilly!” she called. The house-elf appeared. “Could you bring some salve for muscle soreness for us?”

The house-elf quickly returned with a jar of ointment. “Does mistress need Gilly for healing?”

“No, Gilly, I can apply it.” She turned back to Draco to find him looking at her. “What?”

Draco shook his head with a grin. “You’re just a really good sister, Astraea.”

“Well, you’re a really good brother, so we balance each other out. Now come on, get those robes off so we can go straight to bed after this. I’m knackered.”

A few minutes later, they both had their night robes on, and Virgo had taken Draco’s feet into her hands, rubbing the salve Gilly gave her into his feet and calves. Draco groaned appreciatively. “Remind me not to dance quite so much next year.”

“Why did you? I swear you didn’t sit down for one song.”

Draco huffed. “I knew Mother would scold me if I left any the girls in my year out. Even though Millicent’s dancing is worse than Greg's.”

“Don’t be mean. Greg’s clearly self-conscious about it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that to him, would I? Anyway, I had hoped to get a break, but Pansy kept on snagging me when I got anywhere close to a seat. And don’t think I didn’t notice you, Daphne and Caecius laughing about it that last time.”

Virgo giggled. “She was just so obvious about it. I can’t imagine how she must be at school.”

“You really can’t. I mean, I know I’m delightful, but she acts so over the top, sometimes I’m half-convinced that she’s taking the piss.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Draco.” She finished slathering his feet with salve, and then scooted up the bed to reach over him to put the jar on the bedside table.

His eyes followed her as she situated herself underneath the blanket. Like so many nights before, she scooted herself back until she was pressed against his chest, and then turned off the lights. As soon as they were out, Draco’s hand pulled up her night robe to explore underneath. He grazed his fingers up her stomach to pinch at her nipples. But soon enough, his hand landed back where it was so comfortable: between her legs, with one finger nestled inside her.

“Hey ‘straea,” Draco yawned.

“Yeah?”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas.”

Virgo smiled as she felt Draco’s breathing even out against her neck. Draco always got unreasonably excited about Christmas, but she knew that she already had everything she wanted right here.

* * *

She woke slowly the next morning, lethargic in the way that only follows a late night. Draco was still wrapped all around her, face pressed against the side of her neck. Virgo drifted for several minutes, eyes closed, as she let herself enjoy the warmth and safety of his embrace.

Once Draco started to fidget out of his sleep, Virgo opened her eyes and let herself wake all the way. She stretched her neck to the side as Draco nuzzled further into the spot between her neck and shoulder.

“Morn’, Astraea,” he mumbled into her skin.

“Merry Christmas, Draco.”

His body froze as he raised his head. “It’s Christmas!” His arms tightened around her and began to shake her. “Christmas, Virgo! The best day of the year.”

Virgo giggled. She didn’t know how her brother, who could get anything he wanted from his parents any day of the year, loved Christmas so much.

“You think I’m funny, do you?” Draco said with faux seriousness as he sat up. “I’ll show you funny.” He immediately started digging his fingers into her side, tickling her.

Virgo shrieked with laughter, trying to escape his fingers, but Draco had gotten the jump on her and now straddled her legs to keep her trapped. “Draco!” she shouted amongst her laughter. “No, I take it back! _Draco_!”

Once Draco had started laughing as well, he let up, allowing Virgo to breathe normally again. Still, she continued to giggle long after he stopped tickling her.

“I swear, you’re always at top form on Christmas,” Virgo said eventually.

“Oh yeah, top form? At what exactly?”

“At being an annoying older brother.”

“ _Psh_. You love me.”

“I do, Draco. Doesn’t mean you’re not annoying.”

“Well, allow me to be a bit more _annoying_ and kick you out of bed to get ready. _Presents_ , Astraea! Chop, chop!” Draco did as he’d said, pushing Virgo off the mattress until she was forced to turn to land on her feet instead of her head. She laughed some more at his antics and walked back to her bedroom to get dressed.

A few minutes later, Draco and Virgo met up in the hallway, both dressed in casual robes for their morning. Thank Merlin their parents saw reason and didn’t make them wear formal robes for Christmas morning. Still, they had some rules. When the siblings arrived on the ground floor, Gilly appeared to direct them. “Breakfast first, young masters.” Draco groaned and pulled Virgo towards the smaller dining room.

“Good morning, Darlings,” their Mother greeted when they made their entrance. “Merry Christmas.

“Merry Christmas,” Draco and Virgo chorused, taking their seats quickly. Their father lay down this morning’s _Daily Prophet_ issue, which had been hiding his face, and made eye contact with his children. “Good Morning, Father.”

Draco wasted no time in serving both of them from the platters in front of them, clearly trying to rush along the proceedings. Virgo enjoyed making conversation with her Mother on the ball the night before, while Draco continually kicked her chair anytime she extended the conversation. Finally, all four of their plates were clear, and Draco barely could contain his excitement.

“Can we go open presents now?”

Narcissa gave Draco one of her most intimidating side eyes before cracking and smiling. “Of course, dear. Your father and I will be along in a second.”

Their family Christmas tree was set up in the library in front of the windows. Virgo had spent much of the past month just staring at its glittering decorations as she had read in the library’s armchairs. Now, it looked so much more festive, as it was surrounded by piles and piles of presents.

Draco immediately dove into the presents, searching for the ones that had his name on them. Although Virgo never got as excited for Christmas as Draco did, she had just as few inhibitions about diving into her presents. Their mother and father joined them soon enough, only interrupting their surveillance of the opening every once in a while, to exchange a gift.

As usual, the majority of Virgo’s presents were books and clothes, with the latter, of course, coming from her mother. She tried to show enthusiasm for the robes and shoes, but much of her mother’s taste was just a bit too formal for her, even if she could appreciate the style and elegance. Her father tended to buy her books on wizarding history, as it was one of the few subjects where their interests intersected, but she also received _Magical Flora of Great Britain_ , _Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed_ , and _Magical Drafts and Potions_ , the only one of Draco’s school books that she hadn’t gotten a chance to look at last summer.

“Virgo, what are these?”

She looked up, to find Draco looking confusedly at the ring box where two platinum bands in the shape of snakes were enclosed. She couldn’t believe she’d been so distracted by her own presents that she hadn’t been paying attention to him opening her gift.

“They’re charmed rings. They’ll keep your hands warm no matter the temperature, and they’ll never accidentally fall off. You’ve complained so much about the cold in the dungeons at Hogwarts, and I know your hands are cold even in the summer, so…”

“Where’d you get these?” he asked as he slipped the rings onto each pointer finger. Virgo knew that as soon as he put them on, they’d size themselves instantly to his hand.

“Well, I had the idea, but we couldn’t find anyone around here to do it, so Mother took me to a jeweler in Paris that she had heard did charmed work, and he was able to do it. You like them?”

“I love them,” he murmured, as he scooted forward through the mess of wrapping paper. “Here, feel.” He held out his hands to her. She took them in her own and was surprised how much the rings had already done. Instead of the pale icicles that usually hung from his hands, his fingers were warm and pink.

“I’m glad,” she said at last, dropping his hands. She saw her mother and father watching their interaction in her peripheral vision.

“You haven’t opened mine yet, have you?” Draco asked. He abandoned his own present opening to search through the remaining stack until he found the one that he was looking for. “Here, I want to watch your reaction.”

Virgo smiled as she took the present. It was clearly a book, but small. She unwrapped it gently to find a blank leather cover looking at her. Inside were only blank pages.

“It’s a research journal,” Draco explained. “You write down any questions you’d like the answer to, and the journal replies with a list of books with which to start.”

“What?” Virgo asked, incredulously. “No way!”

Draco grinned. “The seller said it knows all magical books ever printed in Great Britain, and rather a bit more.”

Virgo launched herself at her brother. “Draco, this is incredible! I love it!”

The other presents were forgotten as the siblings rejoiced over their gifts to each other.

* * *

The rest of Christmas break seemed to fly by. Despite their father’s insistence on private tutoring lessons with Draco at the beginning of the break, their parents left them relatively alone for the second week. Seemingly all their time was spent flying outside or playing in bed or reading next to each other in the library or chatting with some of Virgo’s favorite portraits together. When the day came for Draco to return to Hogwarts, there were no tears shed.

“It’s just two and a half months and I’ll be back for Easter,” Draco murmured to her in bed on the morning of his return. “And then two months and it’s summer, and then we’ll be together for six straight years.”

“You still promise to write?” Virgo asked.

“Every day, Astraea. Don’t think I won’t take advantage of that journal I gave to you for my own purposes. Anytime I need help writing an essay and don’t know where to start, I’m writing to you.”

She grinned. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

They grinned at each other, until Draco broke eye contact and looked down at their intertwined hands.

“I’m really going to miss you, Astraea. I do love Hogwarts, but…”

“But you love me more,” Virgo finished with a grin. There was no longer any doubt in her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed, despite the surprising lack of smut!
> 
> FYI: A life update: You all might not remember, but I mentioned when I posted this story that I was in quarantine. I've had a fever for the past 12 days, and I finally got tested for Covid-19 yesterday (results TBD). I definitely don't have it as bad as so many people in this pandemic, but I'm still being encouraged (re: forced) by my loved ones to take more time to rest each day, instead of spending basically all the day writing or thinking about writing. All to say, bear with me! There's definitely loads more to this story to tell, and I'm focused on telling it.
> 
> The anonymous feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9). As always, this is totally optional.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Virgo exchange letters while he's at Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for bearing with me while I've been sick! My fever finally broke, and I'm gaining strength again, so hopefully posting schedule will get back to frequent.
> 
> The custom formatting that you see in this chapter is courtesy of [Azdaema Codes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azdaema/pseuds/Azdaema%20Codes), so peep her profile if you need help on ao3 skins.
> 
> If you prefer to hide the custom formatting/revert to a non-cursive font, you can click the "Hide Creator's Style" button at the top of the page.
> 
> I suggest google chrome to see the fonts that I picked, but no matter what browser you're using at least the words will be the same.
> 
> Thanks for the number of commentators that gave me feedback on the images/cursive, etc! This is a fun learning process.

### Interlude

_5 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_I do so feel badly for the unwanted students who spent the holidays at Hogwarts. I haven’t spoken to a single Slytherin who stayed. It must have been dreadfully cold in the dungeons, without all the students here. Speaking of, your Christmas present is working wonders. I already received compliments on the design from some of the older Slytherin (although Flint is ignoring me, for some reason) and I haven’t taken them off once._

_Apparently, all the Weasley children stayed. I can’t figure out if they have reached such depths of poverty that their family can’t afford to feed them all over the holidays, or they just were all desperate to keep Potter company in hopes of soaking in a bit of his fame._

_Daphne seems like she was quite charmed by you at the Yule ball. She’s asked after you several times- whether I miss you, whether I think you’ll sort Slytherin, etc. I answered not at all, and Hufflepuff, of course._

_Don’t tell Mother and Father, but I still haven’t done all the reading Snape assigned, so I better get it done before tomorrow morning’s class._

_Your favorite brother,_

_Draco_

_6 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Perhaps Flint took Mother’s Yule Ball feud with Mrs. Flint as a personal insult from you. You do remember me telling you about Mother’s schemes, don’t you? You did have your fingers in me at that point, so perhaps you weren’t listening._

_On the other hand, Marcus Flint has never seemed like the brightest lantern in the castle, so perhaps he was just trying to remember what he had for breakfast that morning and couldn’t concentrate on having a conversation with you at the same time._

_Gilly has been giving me weird looks the past few days. Do you think that she knows what we’ve done? We did leave quite a mess on the sheets of your bed to clean up._

_Your favorite human,_

_Virgo_

_7 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_Of course, I listen to you. I would actually have to study for classes if I didn’t listen to your lectures on your latest readings. The accusation of being sidetracked by my fascination with your body is completely unfounded. (Although I really think it’s a bit cruel to try to speak to me while we’re playing. I can focus on something else at the same time, but I’d prefer not to.)_

_I hardly believe that I’m the first Malfoy man to have made a mess in my bed. You’re paranoid. And if you’re so curious, order her to speak her mind. But you should remember that she’s a house-elf, her opinion doesn’t matter._

_I think Potter and his friends are up to something. Granger, Weasley and he are spending every free minute in the library. Granger might be a swot, but the other two barely scrape by in classes. No way they’re studying that much. Still, I have been spending more time in the library to study as well, just in case they are. I’m not letting Weasley beat me in end of year exams._

_You’re right about Flint being an idiot. I can’t believe he’s the Quidditch captain I have to look forward to pretending to listen to next year._

_Have you been flying without me? I miss it so much. Potter’s gotten out of flying lessons because he’s on the Quidditch team, and honestly, it’s painful to watch Granger try to fly. Although Longbottom may be worse._

_Have you used my Christmas present yet?_

_Your favorite being,_

_Draco_

_8 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Considering Gilly is one of the only “beings” that I see here, I don’t think that ignoring her is quite the right course of action. Besides, we both know that Father is just looking for a reason to betroth me early so that I can be someone else’s problem- you might be able to get away with ordering around the house-elves, but if Father found out I have, I would find myself promised to someone wretched like Flint or Zabini._

_Of course, I’ve been getting out to fly. I never thought I’d say this, but it’s the only break I get from books. Mistress Avery has taken it upon herself to start me on some of the Hogwarts curriculum, since we’ve gotten as far as we can get on French, arithmetic, writing, etiquette, and history. Well, of course, there’s always more to learn in history, but she says that her job was only supposed to be giving you and me a good head start. I hope we don’t get too far ahead that I’ll be bored in Hogwarts classes._

_I do wish I had someone I could fly with, just so I could have a Keeper to shoot against. I’ve been reading about different Chaser feints, but I have no idea if I’m pulling them off without someone to play against._

_Your favorite,_

_Virgo_

_P.S. of course I’ve used your Christmas present, you prat, it’s incredible. Don’t go looking for compliments._

_9 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_If Father betrothed you to Flint or Zabini, I'd promise him to never procreate so that the Malfoy line dies with us. That’s how much I don’t approve. You should ask Mother to invite Abilene Rookwood and her mother for tea. It will simply not do for you to be so lonely as to desire a house-elf’s company._

_I finally got a chance to use one of the hexes we read about in Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed: the Leg-Locker Curse. I tried it on Longbottom, and he had to hop all the way back to Gryffindor because he didn’t know the counter-curse. Crabbe, Goyle, and I couldn’t stop laughing._

_Something else good happened today: I found out that Snape is going to be refereeing the match in two weeks, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. I don’t exactly understand why Snape is refereeing, considering I ‘ve never heard about him being interested in Quidditch, and it’s one of two things Madam Hooch is paid for, but I won’t complain. I can’t wait for Snape to put the Gryffindor team into their place. I hope he calls a penalty on Potter…. One of the seven hundred Quidditch fouls must include “being unreasonably ugly.”_

_Yours,_

_Draco_

_P.S. I wasn’t looking for compliments, you nitwit. I just want to know what you’re researching. You’re always reading about more interesting things than I’m learning here._

_10 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Mother said she would discuss inviting the Rookwoods over for tea with Father, but I think that means no. You know Augustus Rookwood is in Azkaban. Inviting his wife and daughter over for garden parties is one thing, but for private tea? I’m sure Father will think it’s not worth the potential association._

_If there were a Quidditch foul for being ugly, our Puddlemere wouldn’t be at the top of the league, considering Keeper Damien Lennox might be incredibly talented, but there’s a reason his photographs are never printed in the Prophet._

_Research topics have included:_

_Has a Malfoy ever been imprisoned in Azkaban?_

_(Suggested reading: Ekrizdis’s Fortress: A History of Azkaban and its Most Infamous Inhabitants; answer: no)_

_When are my tits going to get to full size?_

_(Suggested reading: The Young Witch and Wizard’s Guide to Puberty; answer: The Malfoy library doesn’t have any books on this topic, so Wizengamot is still deliberating.)_

_Who’s the youngest Quidditch player that’s ever played in the British and Irish League?_

_(Suggested reading: 101 Great Quidditch Players; answer: Gideon Pantsley was 13 years and 272 days when he was signed to the Chudley Cannons in 1914. Unfortunately, his skill as a Seeker was not enough to save the team, and instead the lousy Beaters repeatedly failed to protect him from a Bludgers, and he quit the league after only one season after pleading from his mum.)_

_Your endlessly curious sister,_

_Virgo_

_P.S. Learning about my research doesn’t get you out of your own studying, you prat. How are classes going?_

_11 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_How dare you speak badly against Lennox. He’s single-handedly carried our team in the Championship the last three years with outstanding save percentages. So, the bloke isn’t easy on the eyes. Not everyone can be as attractive as I am._

_Father needs to lighten up. No one would even know if the Rookwoods visited for tea. If we didn’t speak to anyone with relatives in Azkaban, we would live our lives in silence. Merlin and Morgana, we wouldn’t even be able to speak to each other, considering we’re related to dear aunt Bella._

_I found that book on puberty in the library, but I couldn’t take a look because that muggleborn know-it-all Granger was lurking around. Also, her buffoon boyfriends have disappeared from the library. I don’t know if I find it relieving that normalcy has been restored or disturbing that they clearly found whatever they were looking for. If I don’t find a way to get Potter detention by the end of the year, you should disown me._

_By the way, I might not know now when your tits will get to full size (although I eagerly await that day,) but I might know soon enough. Snape announced to us first years that Pomfrey is going to start lessons on “Health Education” in a few weeks. Apparently, she does it in the spring since she’s always too busy with colds and the flu in the fall._

_Classes are fine._

_Your soon-to-be well-informed brother,_

_Draco_

_12 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Feel free to tell Father to “lighten up.” Are you sure you’re not secretly a Gryffindor? I don’t think a true Slytherin would follow such a foolhardy path._

_Considering Mother and Father will disown you if you get caught trying to get Potter detention, the odds seem to favor you losing at least some of your family by the end of the year. Of course, Mother and Father would disown me if I spoke of disowning you, so I think I’d prefer to just avoid the whole mess. To be clear, that means: Do Not Get Caught, You Prat._

_Thank goodness you’re going to get a proper class on this stuff. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve done just fine learning on our own, but I still get the feeling there are missing puzzle pieces._

_That’s not an answer. How are classes, really?_

_Your sister until you get us disowned,_

_Virgo_

_13 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_You better not speak that way once you come to Hogwarts. I don’t know why I thought Hufflepuff was the worst house before school. If I had been sorted Gryffindor, I think I’d ask to be disowned. Zabini might be a prick, Crabbe might snore like a musical saw, and Nott might be a bit creepy, but at least I’m not rooming with Weasley and Potter._

_Besides, Mother and Father would never disown us both. You know the healers advised Mother not to have any more children after you were born. They don’t have any other option for heir._

_Update on classes for my swot sister: Quirrell is still a stammering fool who hardly covers anything worth knowing, I’m way ahead in Astronomy, but Sinistra still doesn’t give Slytherin any points when I answer questions correctly, Flitwick took off points on my essay on General Counter Charms because I didn’t specify the differences between Finite and Finite Incantatem, Binns makes Father’s lectures on wizarding history look brilliant and interesting, Sprout’s classes are excessively hands-on, since I only want to know plant’s properties for potions, not get covered in soil, and McGonagall hates me. She took off points from me today for telling Wayne Hopkins that the house-elves must be on strike, since there’s no other excuse for his clothes smelling so bad. But honestly, it was a public service for me to say something, that boy smells constantly of body odor._

_Snape has assigned an essay on the uses of mistletoe in potions. Thing you could use your journal to give me a pointer?_

_Always your brother (don’t you forget it),_

_Draco_

_14 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Mother and Father could always adopt another pureblooded child. I’ve been reading about adoptions in pureblooded families to continue the family line. Of course, usually it’s a cousin of some sort, so at least some of the family blood is preserved, in addition to the name, and our family’s history of single sons means we don’t have any long-lost cousins to choose from._

_If you’d like me to send any interesting books on Defense of Dark Arts to read during Quirrell’s class, let me know. Also, everyone knows you’re smart even if the professors don’t give Slytherin points. Do you really care about the house cup?_

_For some reason, I think that public service wasn’t your only reason for saying that to Hopkins. Who insulted you and made you need to show off, oh brother of mine? I’ll hex them._

_You think Mother would let us visit Provence this summer? I’ve been speaking gobs of French with Gen and Flor, and it’s made me want to go back to the old Black villa there._

_The journal suggests Poison Or Panacea: 83 Toxic Potion Ingredients and their Surprising Uses. You’re welcome._

_Your favorite research assistant,_

_Virgo_

_P.S. Did you really write Mother asking her about inviting the Rookwoods to tea? Firstly, I knew you weren’t brave enough to tell Father he was being unreasonable. Secondly, you didn’t have to do that._

_15 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_What it must be like in your mind, I wonder. You find the weirdest topics to research. But then, with you at my side, I look fabulously well-informed, as I can act like I read up on pure-blooded adoption practices instead of you._

_I don’t care about the house-cup, but everyone else seems to, so I need to act like I do. I’m not about to get shunned from the common room for losing Slytherin points. Besides, I’d love for Slytherin to win to show Dumbledore we’re superior, even without his help._

_If you must know, Hopkins laughed when I got a question wrong in Transfiguration, even though it was really McGonagall’s fault for wording it wrong. Although I take offense that you think I can’t hex people without your help._

_I don’t see why not. It’s honestly a travesty that we haven’t had a vacation onto the continent in over a year._

_I miss you. I’m surrounded by the same people we’ve grown up with. I had hoped that I would meet someone at Hogwarts I could be friends with that were a bit more interesting that Crabbe and Goyle, but instead I’m surrounded by people like Zabini and Montague and Flint and Warrington. Trust me, none of them are researching the history of pureblooded adoptions. I’m bored._

_Your favorite student,_

_Draco_

_P.S. Did it work?_

_16 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_I’m glad you appreciate the strange research paths my mind goes down. Still, I need to admit that it’s not my curiosity leading the way as much as my boredom. I’ve started picking a shelf at random in the library, and reading the book that looks the most interesting. That’s how I found Alternative Heirs for British Pure-bloods._

_You have other reasons not to get in trouble, other than losing Slytherin points, remember? You know Father has a brutal stinging hex. Still, I do admit the idea of Slytherin winning the house cup despite Dumbledore’s bias towards Gryffindors sounds appealing. Perhaps you should refrain from “acts of public service” in classes other than Snape’s, since you don’t want to lose any more points._

_You know there are other students other than Slytherins at school, right? I’m sure there are some half-bloods in some of the other houses that aren’t on Mother’s invitation list that might be more interesting company._

_I went for a long flight this afternoon around the grounds. Since Mistress Avery is busy trying to write a new curriculum for my last few months before Hogwarts, I’ve had some more time alone in the last few weeks. Do you remember that cave we found four years ago when we were running from that mad peacock? I stumbled upon it again. It’s so much smaller than I remembered._

_Your favorite entertainment,_

_Virgo_

_P.S. No. Mother scolded me for putting information about our “precarious political position” in a letter to you. She even threatened to start checking our letters to make sure we weren’t saying anything that would negatively affect Father if anyone outside the family read it. I don’t think she’d actually do it, but I admit that it scared me, considering what we sometimes talk about in these letters._

_17 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_So, I shouldn’t tell you that I’ve been wanking practically non-stop to thoughts of your mouth on my penis? Or that I woke up the other night from a dream about sticking it in your vagina and my sheets were all messy? Or that I’ve started using History of Magic as time to daydream about what your tits are going to look like in a few years._

_(Mother would never. And even if she did, what is she going to do? We already covered why they could never actually disown us, and I’m positive it’s normal, considering how much the other Slytherin boys talk about their pricks and wanking. Just because Mother and Father are hung up on the old rules about decorum and no physical affection doesn’t mean everyone else is.)_

_Besides, you think Father’s stinging hex is a lot worse than I do._

_I forgot about that cave. I can’t wait until you come to Hogwarts. You and I will have to explore the grounds here more. Crabbe and Goyle don’t like flying enough, and they’re not interested in walking around the grounds unless there’s a destination._

_You’re underestimating how much the rest of the school hates Slytherin. Even if I ditched Crabbe and Goyle (which, really, would just be cruel, you know I’m their primary source of entertainment), everyone in the other houses seem to think Slytherins are about to hex them at any moment. It makes me want to hex them. Well, actually, it makes me want to hex Dumbledore. He’s who we have to thank for making everyone believe Slytherins are evil, when we’re actually brilliant._

_The Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff Quidditch match is tomorrow. Here’s hoping for Potter to make a fool out of himself like he did last time._

_Your favorite playmate,_

_Draco_

_18 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Perhaps you aren’t afraid of Father’s stinging hexes, but I should remind you that I have been studying up on basic hexes in my spare time, and if Mother and Father punish me because of what you write in your letters, I’m going to make you regret it._

_That said, I’ll admit that surprisingly, I miss the taste. Easter break can’t come fast enough._

_I thought Adrian Pucey told you that there are werewolves and acromantula in the Forbidden Forest? I’m surprised you want to go exploring near it._

_At least half the wizarding world hates us based on our last name already. They’re only going to hate you until you prove to them there’s no reason to. And I don’t think that the anti-Slytherin prejudice started with Dumbledore, even if he definitely helps it along. Salazar himself was ousted by the other founders because of his desire to be more selective about who was admitted, as you very well know._

_I expect a full summary of the match. I got up the courage to ask Father if he and I could go to a Puddlemere game soon, and he only said that if they make the finals, you, he, and I could go, since it’ll be after you get home from Hogwarts. When you were home, we would have gone to five matches by now. He doesn’t think it’s right to have a daughter so obsessed with Quidditch._

_Your favorite Quidditchhead,_

_Virgo_

_19 th January, 1992_

_Astraea,_

_Don’t lie, you would never hex me. You love me too much._

_I can’t believe how lucky I am that I have a sister who actually likes the taste of that white stuff. Easter’s seven weeks away, and you know what I’ll be thinking about until then._

_I bet Pucey was lying about the acromantula. And even if there are werewolves, they only are changed on a full moon, right? Besides, I’m not suggesting we explore the forest on foot, that would be stupid. But if we are on our brooms, even if there are acromantula, they won’t be able to reach us._

_Speaking of brooms—I barely got to watch any Quidditch at all, either. Potter caught the Snitch so quickly that I’m convinced someone (probably Dumbledore, maybe McGonagall) modified the Snitch. Snape did get to call a few penalties against Gryffindor before the game ended, but he didn’t call any against Potter, and no one else seems to be suspicious about Potter’s catch._

_But that’s not even the worst part. I didn’t even see Potter’s catch because that buffoon Weasley and his blubbering friend Longbottom attacked Crabbe, Goyle, and me for some minor smack talk. Not that they could take us—Longbottom was out cold by the end, but Weasley got a lucky punch and gave me a black eye. I thought about trying to get Weasley detention for it when Pomfrey asked me who gave it to me, but I’m sure she would end up taking the Gryffindors’ side._

_Besides, her health education classes start tomorrow, and I don’t want to get on her bad side right beforehand. I’m anticipating having some extra questions—I’m determined to make you feel as good as that first time I licked you again. Just you wait._

_Draco_

_20 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_We’ll test out how much I love you once I get my own wand. Despite loving you, I am quite aware that you are sometimes a prat, and a good hexing might serve you well._

_I think about it all the time too. I’m thinking about it even more since I know that you might be in class with Madam Pomfrey right this moment learning why licking that nub makes me feel good, and what happens when the white stuff comes out of your penis. You’ll take notes, right? Look, I know I’m the swot out of the two of us, but this is important, and if you make me wait until next year to learn about this stuff, I will hex you just to prove a point._

_Why don’t we start with exploring the part of the grounds that doesn’t have “forbidden” in its name?_

_Wasn’t the main reason that Father suggested that you make friends with Greg and Vince that they might protect you against physical attacks? Weasley didn’t do any permanent damage to your eye, did he?_

_I must admit, I’m a bit surprised that Longbottom even had the guts to jump into that fight at all. From your letters, I’d expect Weasley’s temper to get the best of him, but Longbottom seems scared of his own shadow. Not that his bravery got him anything but a night in the hospital wing, but still. Perhaps the Sorting Hat was correct about him._

_Eagerly awaiting your notes,_

_Virgo_

_22 nd January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_Is Aquila alright? I didn’t receive a letter from you yesterday, and I realized she might be tired from having to fly back and forth from Scotland to Wiltshire every day in this weather. I’m sending Archimedes along with this letter, and will instruct him to wait ~~for your letter~~ in case you want to write me back._

_In case you were wondering, I wasn’t serious about hexing you, I just want to hear from you and hear about Pomfrey’s lesson._

_Virgo_

_24 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_What’s going on? Archimedes got back without a letter, although he clearly was able to deliver mine to you, and Aquila arrived this morning with only a thank you note to Mother for her latest care package. Are you mad at me for something? I’ve called you a prat before, you should know I’m not serious._

_Virgo_

_26 th January, 1992_

_Draco,_

_It’s been a week since I’ve heard from you. I can’t concentrate on anything, I’m worried that something terrible has happened. I even made mother let me read your letter to her from a few days ago so I could see if it matches your handwriting, and you are alive. She asked me why I wanted to see it, because she still thinks we’re writing every day. I couldn’t bear to tell her that you’ve stopped writing me, because I know she’ll think it’s normal that you’ve stopped writing. She’ll say it’s normal for you to find new friends at school and not be as interested in hanging out with your sister._

_You promised you wouldn’t do this, remember? I was worried you’d forget about me when you went off to Hogwarts, and you said it would never happen._

_Virgo_

_27 th January, 1992_

_Virgo,_

_I’m fine. I need some time to think about some things. I’ll see you in June._

_Draco_

_P.S. Don’t tell Mother or Father anything._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 7/29/2020: Upon rereading, I realized I forgot to give credit for a line used in this chapter: When Draco writes "everyone in the other houses seem to think Slytherins are about to hex them at any moment. It makes me want to hex them," it is a misquoting of Denice Frohman's poem ["Dear Straight People"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5frn8TAlew0) where she says "Why do you have to stare at me when I'm holding my girlfriend's hand like I'm about to rob you/Dear Straight People/You make me want to fucking rob you."
> 
> Want to give me feedback, but don't know what to say? [Here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9)'s a quick quantitative survey!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo adjusts to life after Draco's letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter of a chapter than normal but it was a good stopping point. Next update out in a 2-3 days probably.

### Part Two

Virgo stared at her ceiling. She had been awake for almost an hour, and still couldn’t find the motivation to exit her bed. She was used to this. It seemed she had spent the month since Draco’s letter in silence, thinking, having all his words, all their letters, all the events of the last year run through her head.

All the hours of thinking had only convinced her of this: she should have known it was coming. Sure, she might have persuaded herself that Draco didn’t care that their relationship wasn’t normal, that he loved her more than he wanted Mother and Father’s approval, that he couldn’t actually be so blind as to think that everyone else was doing this with their siblings in the privacy of their own rooms. But the truth was that she had known that this wasn’t normal, that this surely wouldn’t be allowed, and she didn’t explain that to him, and he had clearly trusted her to tell him any relevant information. Draco would hate her once he learned the truth.

And the truth was that _she_ wasn’t normal.

Because Virgo might not have all the information that Draco undoubtedly had received from Madam Pomfrey’s class, but she could take an educated guess. She knew that her mother had told her that she should stay a virgin until she got married. She knew she would be a virgin until she had sexual intercourse. That likely meant that people had sexual intercourse with their spouses.

She knew that sisters didn’t marry their brothers. Even if she sometimes wanted to.

The worst part was the fact that knowing that Draco might hate her now, that he might be disgusted by what they done, didn’t stop her from thinking about it. From replaying the way he looked at her when they were naked under his covers, or the way he pet her hair while she licked at his penis, or the way she felt when he licked between her legs.

She had started having dreams. Dreams with no clothes, where she and Draco were alone and not worried about anyone catching them. Dreams with kissing.

She thought a lot about kissing. Well, she had been thinking about it for a while. She rarely saw her parents kiss, except for small pecks on anniversaries and birthdays, but she had seen other couples kiss. Two years ago at their Yule ball, the Fawleys had drunk too much of the mulled mead and Virgo had seen them pressed against each other, kissing aggressively against the wall when she had left the ballroom to go to the bathroom.

Now she wondered why she had never asked Draco if he would kiss her. She thought she would like it. Sometimes she woke up from dreams of them kissing and pursed her lips and kissed the skin of her bicep, trying to imagine it was his lips. She even let her mouth hang open and licked her skin, imagining they were kissing like the Fawleys did, with mouths open and tongues likely rubbing against each other. She thought she would like the feel of his tongue on hers.

A small pop sounded next to Virgo’s bed. She always knew when it was Gilly because her apparation popped instead of cracked. She’d never met another house-elf who managed it. Father’s personal house-elf, Dobby, sounded like thunder every time he apparated. Dobby always had to do things differently, though.

Virgo waited for Gilly to tell her to get out of bed, but she didn’t say anything. That was the other thing about Gilly. She didn’t speak much. Virgo finally looked over at her, and found her large brown eyes attentive. “What, Gilly?”

“Young mistress Virgo must get up. Young mistress Virgo is spending too much time in bed.”

“Young mistress Virgo doesn’t want to get out of bed,” Virgo mumbled, throwing her head back again to stare angrily at the ceiling.

Gilly didn’t respond for a long minute. “Young mistress Virgo is missing young master Draco?” she said at last.

Virgo bit her lip. She didn’t know if “missing” was a strong enough word for what she was feeling. “Something like that,” she said at last.

“Young master Draco wouldn’t want young mistress Virgo to lie in bed missing him. Young master Draco likes that young mistress likes to read and fly and explore and play.”

“I don’t have anyone to fly or explore or play with anymore,” Virgo whined. “And I don’t want to read anymore. I read too much already.”

“Young mistress has not been reading much lately.”

That was true. Sure, she was still reading the books Mistress Avery assigned to her, but she wasn’t exploring the books of their library with her usual fervor. Not when the only question she wanted to write in her research journal was _is it normal to want to kiss your brother?_ and she was afraid of the answer.

“Young mistress Virgo could find someone new to play with?”

Virgo snorted. “Sure, I’ll choose from all my friends.”

Gilly didn’t say anything. At last, Virgo was forced to realized that Gilly would only stand there in silence until she got moving.

“Fine, I’m getting up,” she groaned. “Breakfast in the east dining room?”

“Yes, young mistress.” But still Gilly stood there, until Virgo had to do as she said she would, and crawled out of bed and got ready for her day.

* * *

“You’ve been quiet recently,” Mistress Avery said later that day, when she and Virgo closed their books for lunch. One of the kitchen elves, Franley, flitted around them, setting various plates down on the table between them.

“Just looking forward to Hogwarts, I guess,” Virgo sighed as she picked up her soup spoon.

“I suppose,” her tutor corrected. “A lady of your status should not say such a common expression as ‘I guess.’ If you must equivocate, you will say, ‘I suppose.’”

Virgo straightened her back to look Adriana in the eye. “I _suppose_ I’m just looking forward to Hogwarts.”

Adrianna nodded in approval with a twinkle in her eye. “Still, you’ve been looking forward to Hogwarts since I started tutoring you and your brother six years ago. You’ve never been quite so moody. Draco was always the moody one.”

“Draco will always be the moody one,” Virgo quipped without thinking, now swirling her spoon through her french onion soup. Adrianna laughed.

“Your brother _is_ fond of a good dose of drama. Still, I wouldn’t call it quite yet. Young ladies, even ones as smart as yourself, get quite moody during their Hogwarts years. Are you simply precocious?”

Virgo wrinkled her nose, and then looked up from her bowl with distaste. “No offense, but it’s quite boring here with only a tutor, portraits, and my parents to talk to.”

Adrianna smiled at her fondly. “You know, my cousin spoke very highly of you this Christmas after your ball.”

Virgo sat up straight. “Caecius? You talked to him about me?”

“Well, of course. I spend more time with you than I do my own family, of course I talk about you. Although Caecius asked me about you before I could say anything. I do feel badly for him, as he doesn’t have any siblings of his own, and he’s the youngest of the Avery cousins. But I think he felt he found a kindred spirit in yourself.”

Virgo pondered this for a moment. “Does Caecius fly?”

Mistress Avery laughed. “I sometimes forget that while I have seen you with your head in a book more times than I can count, you’re also a bigger Quidditch fanatic than I’ve ever seen. Yes, Caecius flies. Uncle Titus can hardly get him off his broom to come inside and eat. Would you be interested in having him over to play?”

Virgo felt a small bubble of hope blossom in her chest. “As long as he’s okay being Keeper sometimes,” she said with forced casualness.

Adrianna laughed. “I think he would be okay being the Quaffle as long as he had someone to play with.”

Virgo smiled to herself. Perhaps she was more normal than she thought.

* * *

“Mistress Avery mentioned to me that you might want to invite Caecius over for a playdate,” Narcissa said at dinner that night. Virgo eyed her parents wearily. She had been hoping to ask her mother about it alone, as her father was more likely to deny the request outright.

“Adrianna suggested it. But I was going to ask you if that would be okay first.”

Lucius snorted. “I would certainly hope so.”

Narcissa gazed at her husband with a more thoughtful expression. “What do you think, Darling?”

Lucius pursed his lips. “There aren’t any girls you’d rather invite over?” he asked Virgo.

“You said I couldn’t invite Abilene Rookwood or Lindsay Travers.”

Her father's stare hardened. “Don’t take that tone with me. As your father and Master of this Manor, I can deny anyone I’d like from being invited here.”

“Sorry, Father,” Virgo said immediately. “I’m only explaining that I _had_ wanted to invite some girls over. Caecius wasn’t my first choice.”

Lucius still wasn’t convinced, although he did soften slightly. “Isn’t that Gamp girl your age?”

Narcissa and Virgo both snorted. “She’s seven, dear,” Virgo’s mother explained. “Honestly, if you didn’t have me at your side during galas, you would call Cornelius by the wrong name. How someone so intelligent can forget the most basic facts…”

“Seven, ten, that’s not too large a difference,” Lucius griped.

“Caecius’ father was never a Death Eater, right?” Virgo interrupted. Both her parents looked at her with shock.

“How do you know that term?” Lucius asked slowly.

“I _do_ read, Father. And the portraits have been helping me study up on the Sacred Twenty-Eight’s histories. Besides, I know better than to say it outside the house. I’m not _Draco_.”

Narcissa snorted, but immediately schooled her features.

Virgo’s father gave his wife a look, but then turned his attention back to his daughter. “I am considering answering your question, under a few conditions.” He waited for Virgo to nod eagerly. “You never discuss what I am about to tell you with anyone outside this family. You never speak about the Dark Lord, Death Eaters, or the circumstances of the war with anyone outside this family. Do you understand?”

“Of course, Father.”

Lucius nodded and then held eye contact with Narcissa for a few long seconds before speaking. “Caecius’ father was never a Death Eater, no. In fact, none of the Averys have ever been imprisoned in Azkaban.”

“But his uncle was tried, right? And he claimed the Imperius curse just like you did?”

“I clearly underestimated what the portraits know. And ‘claimed’ is not the right word to use, Virgo. He and I were acquitted because we were controlled by the Imperius Curse.”

Virgo gave her father a disbelieving look. “I already said I would never discuss this with anyone outside the family, Father.”

Lucius surveyed his daughter. “Fine. He and I were acquitted because _we gave testimony that_ we were controlled by the Imperius Curse. That’s as much as I will say on the subject, Virgo.”

Virgo nodded. At least she had confirmed the stories that the portraits had told her. “And his grandfather?”

Narcissa made a small sound. “I am honestly surprised at how well-informed you are, Darling. I didn’t think you were capable of withholding the urge to recite your learning as much as you have.”

“Just because I’m a swot doesn’t mean I’m a know-it-all, Mother,” Virgo protested. Narcissa only raised an eyebrow at her. Virgo blushed but did not respond.

“His grandfather was never tried. He came down with dragon pox when the war was at its apex, so he was at home sick when many of the other Death Eaters were caught.”

“Didn't Grandfather Abraxas get dragon pox around the same time?”

“Yes, Darling,” her Mother answered. “Although Mr. Avery survived, unlike your grandfather. That’s why we decided to expose you and Draco to the disease when you were young. You remember having it when you were four, don’t you?”

Virgo nodded. She didn’t think she’d forget the feeling of sneezing sparks out of her nose and wanting to itch every part of her body. “So if the Averys were never imprisoned, it shouldn’t look bad for us to invite Caecius over, right? We invite the Crabbes and Goyles over all the time.”

Narcissa looked at her husband. “She has a point, dear.”

He sighed and addressed his wife. “You’ll invite Temperance Avery for tea as well? If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. I want to make sure the Avery boy is the right sort to leave Virgo alone with.”

“They’re children, Lucius,” Narcissa murmured. Virgo was thankful that her parents were focused on each other, and missed the way she blushed. “But of course.”

Lucius nodded. “Happy now, Virgo?”

“Yes, Father. Thank you, Father.” She refrained from asking her mother if she could send the owl out that night. Best not to look a gift hippogriff in the mouth.

* * *

“Virgo, watch this!”

Caecius threw the Quaffle high in the air before hurling himself into a roll. As he pulled himself back up, he swung his arms out to catch the Quaffle—but just barely missed. The Quaffle fell slowly back down towards the ground, and Virgo dove to catch it.

“Drat. I almost had it,” Caecius griped as Virgo rose to his height again. “I can do it when I’m on my own.”

“Sure, you can,” Virgo snarked with a grin, but then leapt to soften her words. “The roll was nice, though. It took me ages to learn how to do that, and I still can’t do it as fast as you can.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe that.”

Virgo hid her blush by looking towards the goal posts. It was true, her sloth grip roll was perfectly adequate, but she didn’t want to embarrass Caecius by revealing she was better at it than him. It was only their first day playing together, and she was already having more fun than she had had in two months. She didn’t want to scare him away.

“Do you want to practice shooting? I’ll be Keeper for you if you’ll do the same for me later,” Virgo suggested instead.

“Yeah, alright,” Caecius said. “If after that we can let out the Snitch. I hardly ever have someone to fly against. Usually I just let the Snitch out on my own.”

“Merlin, that’s all I’ve had,” Virgo sighed. “Draco loves having Seeker matches with me because he always wins.”

“Why do you still take him up on it, then?”

“He’s my brother,” Virgo said simply. “If he wants to, I’ll do it. And besides, it’s not like we only do Seeker matches. He plays Keeper for me so I can shoot on him, too.”

“You two seem close,” Caecius commented. “I wish I had a brother or sister. I’ve got cousins, but they’re all older, and I only really see them on special occasions now.”

Virgo shrugged one shoulder. “I suppose we’re close only because we’ve always been each other’s only entertainment,” she hedged.

Curiously, Caecius didn’t seem to press the subject, even if his eyebrows furrowed slightly at her answer. She knew that if she had given such an obvious deflection to a question around Draco, he would have pressed her until she squealed everything. Instead, Caecius just stole the Quaffle from her arms and started towards the goal posts. “Are you going to stop me from scoring, or what?” he shouted behind him.

Virgo smiled and soared after him.

* * *

Several weeks later, Virgo woke in the middle of the night to yet another dream of Draco.

Caecius and she had spent time together almost every day the last few weeks, playing Quidditch or reading or walking through Diagon Alley with Mrs. Avery as she went shopping. One day, they even got Adrianna to take them to Hogsmeade, where they devoured treats from Honeydukes Sweet Shop, explored the pranks and games at Zonko’s Joke Shop, and peered through the bars of the iron gate up at Hogwarts’ castle. But even so, Virgo spent the time alone at night with thoughts of her brother.

This dream was different, though. She had dreams based on her memories before, of them naked and touching each other, and dreams based upon her wishes, of them kissing. And this dream definitely had elements of both, but still, she felt like something had changed. She seemed acutely aware of her vagina, like it was aching for something.

She closed her eyes and pulled her night robe up her body before reaching between her legs. She expected to feel the same warm skin that she had felt before, but this time was different.

She was…wet. She gasped as her finger made contact with her vagina and slipped in easily. Her vagina was leaking something—something that reminded her of what came out of Draco’s penis when he was hard. It was thin and slippery.

Without conscious thought, Virgo spread her legs further apart to have more access and pressed her finger further inside herself. The sensation was so much more heightened. She curled her finger up and shuddered as it hit that spot that Draco always pressed against when he had his hand inside her.

 _Draco_. Draco would be fascinated by this new development. She imagined him coming home in June and taking her aside to undoubtedly tell her all the things he learned in Madam Pomfrey’s class. “ _I learned things too_ ,” she would say. Then she would hike up her robe and take his hand and press it between her legs. He would feel the wetness and be dumbfounded. His fingers would automatically push into her—he could never resist putting his fingers in her, even before this development.

Virgo thrust her finger faster in and out of herself, imagining it was Draco’s fingers. “ _Bloody hell_ ,” he would say, forgetting whatever he was going to tell her and instead pushing her back onto the bed. He would pull her legs apart to look at her vagina, glistening with this new substance. He would lower his head, because he wouldn’t be able to resist tasting it. He would groan with enjoyment, and lick up and down between her legs, but especially suck on that nub at the top…

Virgo pulled her finger out and pressed her wet digit against that nub. “Oh!” she gasped. That felt _so_ much better than it ever had before. She coated her finger with more of the wet stuff coming from her vagina and rubbed against that nub. Draco would— _oh_ —he would suck on her—he would rub his penis—he would push his fingers in her—

She could barely keep her fantasy straight, so amazing was the feeling. Shaking, she pushed her left hand between her legs too, pushing a finger inside herself again. In and out she thrust it, as her right pointer finger rubbed and rubbed against that bump. It seemed to get harder under her finger, until she could pinch at it with two fingers, pressing from all sides.

And then the world broke apart.

She heard herself screaming and moaning, and her vagina seemed to quake around the finger still inside her. Still, she rubbed and rubbed, and the pleasure just seemed to crash over her over and over like waves at sea. And then it slowed, until she was just lying on her bed boneless, with her skin humming.

Whoa.

She didn’t move for several minutes, and even her brain seemed lethargic. But then a feeling of doubt, of dirtiness set in.

Draco would never do that with her again, now that he undoubtedly understood that they weren’t supposed to, that it wasn’t normal. Virgo wondered if normal girls even touched themselves like she just had. Maybe they just waited until marriage to feel that way. Maybe they only ever were touched by their future husband.

She still hadn’t moved a muscle. Even as her mind buzzed with anxiety and insecurity, her body was calm. Her eyelids sagged. She felt like she could fall asleep at any moment. It reminded her of the feeling of being in Draco’s arms—like everything was okay, would be okay, and all she had to do was stay here, still.

Maybe it wasn’t normal, she thought to herself. Maybe Draco would never do that with her again, or ever hold her again. Maybe she would never find anyone else that she wanted to do that stuff with.

But at least she could feel that feeling by herself. And Draco would never know that she was thinking of him while she did it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Optional feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco returns from Hogwarts for the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter would have been done much sooner, but I went down a rabbit hole of reading over 500,000 words of Peter Parker/Tony Stark fics, so... sorry not sorry? I guess I have a new ship/fandom.
> 
> There's a letter in this chapter-- reminder that you can turn off the custom formatting with the "Hide Creator's Style" button.

Virgo honestly considered not going to King’s Cross with her parents to greet Draco. She recalled the way that she felt back in December while anticipating his arrival, like she was in one of Gringotts’s carts and at any moment a goblin might flick the lever to send her careening down into the abyss. And at that time, he was still responding to her letters.

Now, the cart had already fallen off the tracks.

But she couldn’t not go. Even if she found herself lying awake the night before wondering if he would even look at her at all, if he would speak to her, if he would turn immediately to Mother and Father and tell them what she had tricked him into doing with her, she couldn’t bear to not go. He was still the person that she loved most in this world. Even if she wasn’t his person any longer.

She knew that she had made the right decision when she was standing between her parents on the platform, sweating in the muggy June air. Her nerves disappeared when the scarlet train barreled into the station, and students began exiting the carriages in droves. As she scanned the crowd for Draco, a sense of déjà vu came over her, and she was able to pretend that the last few months hadn’t happened. That Draco would come striding out of the crowd with purpose, his eyes focused already on hers, and a secret smile on his face, promising a warm embrace as soon as they were in private.

Instead, when Draco emerged from the crowd, his expression was blank and cold. Still, his eyes did find hers immediately, and he didn’t look away. Virgo had expected to feel excitement or fear or tension when she saw him, but instead, she just felt… captivated. She had no idea what emotion was represented on her face. She just knew that she couldn’t look away.

“Draco, darling,” their mother greeted when he reached them. Draco finally broke eye contact with Virgo and gave Narcissa a small smile, quick as a wink.

“No Vincent and Gregory?” Lucius asked.

“I said goodbye to them on the train,” Draco explained quietly. Virgo didn’t think she’d ever seen Draco so quiet in public. If there were people to perform for, he would be as loud and conspicuous as possible. Now, he just seemed to want to disappear into the smoke.

Their parents exchanged looks. “Well, I suppose we can catch up with the Crabbes and Goyles some other time,” Narcissa murmured. “Taruther, Gilly!”

The house-elves appeared to transport Draco’s things back to the manor, and Narcissa and Lucius each grasped one of the children and apparated them back into the entrance hall.

Draco seemed to relax slightly as he took in the familiar scene. “Are we having tea? You won’t believe how Dumbledore stole the house cup from Slytherin. Father, you must talk to the other Governors about him…”

He had already turned towards the parlor where they usually served tea for the family, but their father’s next words made him stop. “No, Draco. You may think that deciding to stay at school for Easter break absolved you from punishment, but you are wrong. What did we tell you over Yule?”

Draco’s face was stricken. “I was trying to do the right thing!” he exclaimed. “Dragons are dangerous!”

Virgo schooled her face from showing the incredulity she felt. She had overheard their parents saying something about a dragon, detention, and the forbidden forest, but she didn’t believe it actually involved a _real_ dragon. Lucius seemed to be of a similar opinion.

“Draco, I didn’t raise you to be either a bad liar or a gullible idiot. Besides, doing the right thing isn’t nearly as important as avoiding bringing shame to this family. My study, _now_.”

Draco’s complexion paled further, and Virgo felt a sort of secondhand dread. Still, she knew better than to complain on his behalf. Her brother marched off in the direction of Lucius’ study without another word.

Lucius disappeared after him. Narcissa’s eyes followed her husband for a moment before she turned back to Virgo. “Mistress Avery gave you reading to do, didn’t she, Virgo?”

Virgo sighed. “Yes, Mother,” she murmured and forced herself to turn the opposite direction from where her brother had gone.

* * *

She wasn't able to focus much on her reading in the next few hours. It wasn’t tedious by any measure, as Adrianna had assigned her a chapter from a beginning charms theory text that covered the purpose of different wand movements, and Virgo was fascinated by anything that referenced the magic that she would soon be performing, but still, she hardly took in any of the words. She was seated in her favorite armchair in the library, turned towards to the door, and she found herself looking up about twenty times every hour, wondering when Draco would walk in to find her.

After two hours, she closed her book heavily and retreated upstairs to her room, hoping she might concentrate better there and wondering if this overwhelming lonesomeness would extend through the entire summer.

It was only a bit before dinner when there was a tentative knock on her door. She looked up, confusedly. Her parents never came up to her room, preferring to just call Gilly to summon her, and Draco usually simply walked in when he liked. It took her several seconds to think to call out, “Come in!”

The doorknob turned slowly, and her brother entered. His intense blank stare had returned, and he was tentative as he entered the room. Finally, he crossed the room and dropped into one of the armchairs by the windows. Virgo didn’t miss the way he winced as he sat down.

She ignored the strange silence, and the fact that she couldn’t remember the last time Draco chose to sit in the armchair instead of on the bed with her, much less the last time he refrained from hugging her hello, and simply asked, “Father used his stinging hex?”

Draco nodded. “That oaf of a gamekeeper smuggled in a dragon egg and hatched it inside his hut. Potter and his friends convinced him to get rid of it and smuggled it out of the castle. I tried to tell McGonagall about it before they did, but she didn’t believe me, and instead I got detention for being out past curfew. Potter and Granger got detention too, and Longbottom for some reason, but they didn’t get caught with the dragon. Father thinks I made it up to get them in trouble, but I saw the dragon with my own eyes.”

Virgo remained silent. Usually, she would have sixteen questions to ask at hearing this type of story, or a supportive comment or a jibe at McGonagall or Hagrid or Potter, but instead she couldn’t get past the hurt. This had happened before Easter, Father had said. Months ago. And she had no idea, because Draco wouldn’t write her, and her parents didn’t know to keep her informed.

After an awkward silence, Draco rambled on. “I should have known better than to tell the truth to a professor other than Snape. They all automatically assume that all Slytherins are lying.”

He shifted in his chair nervously, but then winced again. Virgo couldn’t contain herself.

“Did Father’s hex leave welts? You’re never in this much pain after his punishments. I’m always the one who can feel it for ages afterwards.”

Draco shrugged half-heartedly. “I don’t know if my memory is simply mistaken or if he put more power behind the spell this time. I’m sure the welts will go away soon enough.”

“I could call Gilly to bring some salve for them,” Virgo offered.

She didn’t expect Draco’s reaction. “No!” he exclaimed. “It’s not your job to take care of me, Virgo! I’m your older brother; I take care of you!”

After a moment, Virgo noticed that her mouth was hanging open inelegantly. She swallowed as she closed it. “I thought we take care of each other?” she murmured tentatively.

Draco’s lips pressed together as his gray eyes bore into her own. After a moment, he seemed to gather enough courage to demand, “Do you know what incest is?”

Virgo furrowed her brow. Draco was never the one who asked questions, since he knew Virgo hated having to admit she didn’t know something. He was the one who just told her what he knew. “ _Incesto, incestare_ in latin means to pollute, defile, or disgrace,” she recited carefully. “So something like that?”

A darkness fell over Draco’s face. “Incest is what we’ve been doing,” he whispered after a moment. “I’ve been… _defiling_ you.”

“What do you mean?” Virgo asked carefully. She had been imagining this conversation for months, and yet she still somehow felt lost now that it was happening.

“You know how I said Madam Pomfrey was going to teach us about ‘health education,’ and I figured that it was going to be about… you know, sex?”

Virgo nodded.

“Well, it was—although there was some other stuff involved, too. But one of the first things Pomfrey covered when she got around to talking about sex was that most people don’t start doing it until they are between sixteen and twenty, and that if anyone ever pressured anyone to do those things, they could go to Azkaban. She said that if anyone ever made any of us do anything, even if it was someone in our family, that we should come to her or any of the other professors to report them. And then Zabini laughed and said, ‘gross, incest, who would be that desperate?’”

Virgo really didn’t like where this was going, and she really didn’t like that Zabini seemed to know so many words that Mother and Father would never even allow them to say, much less explain to them.

“And even though Madam Pomfrey yelled at him for making jokes, she explained to the rest of us that incest was any sexual contact between two family members, and that it was one of the worst crimes of a sexual nature in our world.”

Virgo swallowed. “Oh,” she said meekly.

“Oh?” Draco repeated. “Oh? Don’t you see, Virgo? Mother and Father were right about how much we touch each other, and right to keep us from sleeping in the same bed, and from bathing together. It’s wrong. It’s a crime—you see how Father punishes us for even speaking out of turn in public, can you imagine how he’d react if—if—if someone realized what we’ve been doing together?”

Virgo didn’t think of herself as a coward. She had never kept anything from her brother—Draco had even learned not to ask her what she was giving him for Christmas or his birthday because she couldn’t lie to him, couldn’t deny him an answer, and it would ruin the surprise. But now, faced with this conversation, she couldn’t bear to say the words that had been running through her mind for the last four months: “ _I knew. I guessed. I didn’t care._ ”

Draco seemed to take her silence as confusion. “I’ve been spending the months since watching other siblings. Most Slytherins are only children, but there are plenty of siblings in the other houses. They never—they never hold hands like we do, or hug as much as we do, or spend as much time as we do together, and I’m sure that means they’re not sharing each other’s beds and doing—doing the stuff that we do together.”

“But—but just because they don’t do it doesn’t mean it’s bad,” said Virgo quietly. “I mean, the hugging, and the holding hands, and the—the spending time together. We won’t go to Azkaban for that, will we?”

“You’re not getting it,” Draco exclaimed. “You know—you know the white stuff that comes out of my penis, Virgo? That’s called _sperm_. It’s how a witch and a wizard make a baby. I could have gotten you pregnant. We—we were so quick to scoff at Mother and Father naming you Virgo, but they must have had a reason to care so much about you being a virgin. Can you imagine if you had gotten pregnant at ten years old—and who would they have looked at? I would’ve been the first Malfoy in history to be thrown into Azkaban.”

“But—but I’m not pregnant,” Virgo interjected. “I’m not, right? My belly would be big if I were pregnant.”

“Well, yeah. But you could’ve been. I can’t believe I was so stupid—I didn’t think about what getting my sperm inside you would do.”

“You really liked it, though,” Virgo pointed out quietly. The Draco of four months ago would have smirked and told her that he really did, that he couldn’t stop thinking about it, that every time he wanked he imagined that he was spilling all over her. Instead, Draco just scrunched his nose up as if in pain.

“We can’t do anything anymore,” he declared finally. “Not even—not even holding hands or hugging or sleeping in each other’s beds like we usually do. We can’t risk anyone ever getting suspicious and finding the rest out.”

She had worried that this would happen—well, she had worried that he would never speak to her again, never look at her. She should be happy that he didn’t seem to realize that she had known, that he didn’t blame her. But instead, the reality of having so much of their relationship prohibited left her reeling. She would never be allowed to touch him? Hug him? If this was normal, she didn’t want it.

But instead, she just frowned, and mumbled, “Okay.”

She loved him more than anyone else in this world, and she would do whatever he wanted.

* * *

With the highly anticipated conversation behind them, the awkward silences waned a bit. Draco spent two hours the first night sitting in the library with Virgo, relaying bits and pieces of the drama-filled last semester to her. Still, when they both began to yawn, Draco frowned and murmured, “I should get to bed.”

He used to say, “ _We_ should get to bed.”

Virgo nodded and followed him in silence up to their bedrooms. They disappeared into their own rooms with only exchanged mutters of “Goodnight.”

The next few days were of similar form. When Virgo exited her room each morning, she often found Draco waiting for her in the dining room, ready to spend the day with her playing chess, reading, flying, or exploring the grounds. On the one hand, they were spending just as much time together as always, which was more than Virgo could have hoped for.

On the other hand, he never touched her anymore. When they flew, Draco now corrected her form with instruction rather than physicality. During Seeker matches, he never playfully jostled her like before. During their walks around the grounds, Virgo made sure to walk single file, because when they walked side by side, Draco would flinch every time their hands accidentally brushed.

They used to spend the majority of their time in one of their bedrooms, whether that meant playing or simply chatting or reading together on the bed. But Virgo hadn’t seen the inside of Draco’s bedroom since he had arrived home. And so much time spent together in the rest of the house brought with it an audience. Virgo suddenly realized how much their mother and father, Mistress Avery, and even the house-elves spent watching their interactions. Previously, she would have never thought anything about climbing into Draco’s lap to read with him, but now she was aware of an audience to their every move. She wondered what kind of stares and looks she had missed before.

All in all, their relationship was a shadow of their previous companionship, but Virgo was afraid to make any move to change anything, for fear of losing even more. Still, the decision was taken out of her hands on the fifth day.

She and Draco were sitting in the library, completing work for Mistress Avery. After Draco’s session with Father’s stinging hex the first day, he hadn’t dared complain when Lucius decided that Adrianna would resume tutoring Draco during his break from Hogwarts to ensure that next year, he would be first in the class. Luckily, Adrianna took pity on them both and assigned less reading than usual, idly suggesting that they might like to take advantage of the nice weather to get outside in the afternoon.

Virgo estimated that they only had forty more minutes of work left when there was a tap on the library windows. They both looked up, and Virgo’s anxiety soared.

“Whose owl is that?” Draco wondered. Virgo did not answer, and collected the letter, as she knew it was for her.

_Virgo,_

_I have waited as long as I can stand to allow you and Draco sometime to catch up, but I am impatient for entertainment and I never had as many etiquette tutors as you did, so you’ll have to forgive my indecorum. It’s a perfect day for flying. Would you like to come over this afternoon? Draco can come too if you’d prefer._

_Caecius_

“It’s from Caecius,” Virgo explained softly.

“Avery? What’s he writing for?”

“We’ve been spending time together the last few months. He wants to go flying this afternoon.”

“You’re not going to accept, are you?” Draco demanded. “I thought _we_ were going to fly together this afternoon.”

“It would be rude to say no,” Virgo justified. “And he invited you as well.”

Draco clenched his jaw. “Like I’d want to hang out with him. He’s below our station, and you shouldn’t spend time with him either.”

A surge of hot emotion that Virgo didn’t immediately recognize overcame her. “Fine, I’ll go alone, and you can enjoy our superior station by yourself,” she snipped. She rejoiced at Draco’s shocked expression.

 _Oh_. She was angry. She never got angry at Draco. But the hot coils of anger did not dissipate, and she simply looked away from Draco to summon Gilly.

As always, the house elf appeared immediately with a small pop. “Young mistress Virgo?”

“Gilly, could you ask Mother if I could go over to the Averys' after lunch? Caecius just wrote and invited me.”

Gilly nodded and disappeared. After a minutre, Gilly reappeared, with Narcissa’s blessing.

Draco pouted all through lunch, even though the house-elves served quiche Lorraine, which was his favorite. Virgo considered cancelling her visit to the Averys' about once every minute, but still, after she finished eating, she stood and announced that she was going to go upstairs to dress in her Quidditch leathers. She felt Draco’s eyes follow her out of the room, but he didn’t say anything.

By the time she returned downstairs in her flying gear, the anxious pressure in her chest hadn’t gone away, and she wanted to find Draco and apologize, kneel at his feet and beg for him to forgive her. But then she imagined him lecturing her on why that wasn’t _normal_ , and she locked her jaw and continued to the floo.

She had just thrown the powder into the fireplace when a yell sounded from the top of the stairs. “Wait, Virgo!”

She looked up to find Draco, dressed in Quidditch leathers, running down the stairs. Her jaw dropped.

He came to a halt in front of her, slightly out of breath. He must have run all the way from his bedroom. “Is the invitation still open?” he asked. “I might as well show you and Avery how it’s done.”

Virgo smiled. She knew Mother would scold them later for showing up with Draco without warning the Averys, but it was worth it for this moment, when the anger drained out of her and she only felt fondness for her brother. “You can try,” she quipped. “I’ve been going easy on you the last few days, but Caecius won’t.”

Draco smirked, and it felt like a little bit of their old relationship—their easy understanding—had returned. “We’ll see, sister. Come on, it’s one o’clock—you don’t want to leave Avery waiting, do you?”

Virgo rolled her eyes and turned back to the fireplace to hide her smile. “Titus Avery’s house,” she called into the flames.

Thankfully, the ride from Malfoy manor to the Avery abode was relatively short, and she stepped out without feeling too dizzy. The Averys didn’t have any house elves, so she was left to brush off the soot with her hands as she looked around the familiar living room.

“Virgo!” Caecius called from where he was waiting on the couch. He put down his book and stood just as the fireplace flared green again and Draco appeared.

“Hi, Caecius,” Virgo grinned, stepping forward to hug her friend.

Caecius wrapped his arms around her tightly, and his relative height drew her onto her tippy toes. “Five days without you—you won’t believe the books that I’ve stooped to reading to entertain myself.”

“Nothing could be worse than when you tried to read _Flesh-Eating Trees of the World_ ,” she commented as Caecius finally released her. She shuddered at the memory.

But Caecius did not respond. “Draco,” he greeted as he stepped forward. “My mother didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“I apologize for the miscommunication,” Virgo explained. “I forgot to extend your invitation until the last minute.”

Draco did not blink at the lie. “Avery,” he greeted coolly, and extended his hand towards the eleven-year-old to shake. “I would never miss the opportunity for some more flying competition. As a Hogwarts’ second year, I hope to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team.”

Caecius nodded, although his normal easy smile had disappeared. “Virgo tells me you’d like to be a Seeker. We’ll have to hold our own Seeker match and see how it shakes out.”

Virgo frowned. When Draco had decided to come, she had taken it as a return to normalcy, an expression of care and desire to spend time with her. But now neither Draco nor Caecius were paying her any attention, and there was a strange tension in the room.

“Yes, well, I’d like to get some more shooting practice in, first,” she announced. They finally turned to look at her.

“Of course, Virgo,” Caecius affirmed. “Come on, let’s go before my mum comes to greet you and wastes ten minutes asking after your parents.”

He led them out through the kitchen and into the backyard. The Averys’ house wasn’t overly large, and they didn’t have the immaculate gardens that Malfoy Manor had, but they did have quite a bit of land surrounded by tall evergreens, allowing them to play Quidditch in the yard without worrying about any muggles seeing. At the edge of the yard was a broom shed that housed the Averys’ collection of brooms and well-used Quidditch balls.

The padlock unlocked at Caecius’ touch, and he reached into the dusty interior and quickly found the one Virgo preferred. She took it with a grateful smile.

“A Cleansweep Eight?” Draco scoffed. “I would have brought my Comet Two Sixty if I knew this was your offerings.”

A dark red flush spread over Caecius’ cheeks. Virgo had heard Draco insult people countless times, both in front of them and behind their back, but she had never felt such desire to counteract his words. Before Caecius could retort, she spoke in a clear, even voice.

“If you’d like to return home to get your broom, that’s fine, Draco, but Caecius and I don’t need a flashy broom to practice.”

Draco turned to her in shock. She had never spoken against him in front of anyone else, even in such a minor way. She wondered if Caecius noticed the slight pink of Draco’s cheeks.

“No, of course not,” Draco recovered. “But perhaps we should play at the Manor next time. You’ll have to practice on regulation goal posts if you want to play Chaser.”

Virgo had never commented on the fact that the Averys’ Quidditch pitch was bracketed by goal posts only ten feet in height, rather than the regulation thirty. A goal was a goal no matter the height at which it was scored.

Caecius’ easy-going nature had partially returned. “I have no preference of location, as long as we’re playing. Speaking of practice chasing, let’s start with the Quaffle. I’ll be Keeper first, shall I?”

The strange tension between Draco and Caecius didn’t disappear completely, but Draco kept the pointed comments to a minimum while they were playing. Still, Virgo couldn’t help but notice that Draco hardly spoke to her directly all afternoon, preferring to counter Caecius’ suggestions with ones of his own, and donning an aloof air for the rest of the time. By the time that they got around to a Seeker match, Virgo was frustrated enough to sit out while Caecius and Draco jostled each other around the yard after the Snitch.

When Draco finally snagged the ball out of the air (after a frankly illegal jab at Caecius with his elbow), Caecius’ expression was so stormy that Virgo worried that she would never get an invitation to play with him ever again. Luckily, though, by the time Caecius had led them back to the fireplace, a polite smile had returned to his face.

“Perhaps tomorrow, you can host the game?” he offered. “And then we can see how you fly on your Comet, Draco.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed. “It’s up to Virgo, I suppose.”

Caecius turned to Virgo and grinned more naturally. “How about it, Virgo?” he asked as he slung an arm around her shoulders. “I promise you’ll get more time Chasing tomorrow. We could even bring out the Bludgers, since Gilly’ll be on call with healing charms.”

Virgo smiled appreciatively at her friend. “Sure. After lunch, again? Draco and I will still have some work to do with Adrianna in the morning.”

“Tell her Caecius says hi,” he replied, and then wrapped the other arm around Virgo to hug her goodbye. “Draco. Until tomorrow.”

“Avery,” Draco echoed. “Come on, Virgo. Ladies first.”

Virgo sighed and threw the floo powder into the fireplace. By the time she called out “Malfoy Manor!” and closed her eyes, neither boy was paying her any attention, and both of their smiles had dropped from their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know many of you didn't want them to take a break, but I have a pretty strong vision of how the timeline of their relationship. Stick with me. Just because they aren't together right now doesn't mean the smut is over, and definitely doesn't mean that their relationship will be static.
> 
> Also, I just want to say how much I've loved seeing the kudos, subscriptions, and comments. As my first experience posting a work, it's been really lovely to get instant feedback. Still, I want to express that you all shouldn't feel a need to be constantly positive with your comments-- I have a pretty thick skin, and I do want to get honest feedback. The only thing I'd like to avoid are comments of "I didn't like this" without an explanation of _what_ you didn't like or without a suggestion for how to make it better.
> 
> If you want to give feedback, but don't know what to say, the anonymous quantitative feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo is done with the boys' competition.

A week later, Virgo had determined that she was decidedly sick of boys. Competitive, stubborn, idiotic _boys_. Caecius had come over to the Manor every day since inviting Draco and Virgo to his house, and Virgo swore that her friend was fueled entirely by pigheadedness, since she was sure that he couldn’t enjoy the number of snide remarks Draco made about everything from his flying to his family.

And on the other hand, she was unsure of why Draco even bothered accompanying them each afternoon, since he clearly didn’t hold the same fondness for Caecius as Virgo did, and he hardly spoke to Virgo during the hours the three of them played together.

The only positive to this whole dynamic, Virgo thought as she lay out watching yet another Seeker match between the two boys, was that she was so frustrated all the time that her Chasing was steadily improving. There was nothing quite like a desire to whip the Quaffle directly at one of their heads to make her throw harder.

She stopped paying attention to the boys and lay back to look at the sky. She couldn’t believe that this was what the rest of the summer had in store for her. She had tentatively asked her mother about a holiday to Provence, but Narcissa had denied the request, saying the Lucius needed to be in London and muttering something about “trouble at the ministry,” “meddling blood-traitors,” and “the Muggle Protection Act.”

A whoop and groan sounded from the air, and Virgo looked up to find Caecius holding his hand up in the air in victory, the Snitch enclosed. It was rare that Caecius beat Draco to the Snitch, although he always gave Virgo’s brother a run for his galleons. Based on how Draco threw his broom on the ground and stalked off, Virgo was sure that he would be in a mood for the rest of the day. At least he had walked off without any nasty insults to Caecius—this time.

“Did you see that?” Caecius cheered as he landed and sat next to Virgo. He didn’t seem to care about his opponent walking off in frustration. “That catch! I thought I was going to fall off my broom, but I did it! Merlin, what a rush!”

“Good job,” Virgo congratulated half-heartedly. She didn’t feel the need to admit that she hadn’t been watching at all.

“Morgana, I’m knackered. I thought that neither of us would ever catch the Snitch.”

Virgo hummed in agreement. It was one thing to spend twenty minutes sitting out so that the two boys could have a Seeker duel, it was quite another to find herself still lying on the ground after an hour had gone by. “You’re getting much better,” she admitted. “The competition is good for you.”

“Thanks. It’s definitely nice to have people to fly with.” Caecius paused and then turned to look at Virgo. “Don’t tell your brother, but it’s also nice to have a regulation field to play on.”

Virgo snorted. “Your secret is safe with me. You up for coming by at the same time tomorrow?”

Caecius groaned. “I can’t. My cousin’s birthday is tomorrow, so I have to spend the afternoon at their house, watching my dad and uncle get steadily drunker and snippier at each other.”

“Sounds like fun,” Virgo chuckled. “Sunday, then?”

“Definitely,” Caecius agreed and stood with a groan. Virgo made a similar sound as her tired muscles protested the movement.

Virgo walked Caecius back to the entrance hall while her friend chattered merrily about the number of tense family events that he had sat through in his eleven years of existence. By the time they reached the fireplace, Virgo was thinking that it might be a boon that she didn’t have any uncles or aunts or cousins—at least that the family was on speaking terms with.

She hugged her friend goodbye before he disappeared into the flames, and then slowly made her way up the stairs. Perhaps she could get Gilly to bring her some muscle relaxing salve later. The daily flying was definitely taking a toll on her body, as much as it was also making her stronger.

Once she had finally reached her bedroom, she immediately began to peel off her Quidditch leathers and threw them haphazardly onto the floor. Gilly would collect them and wash them before Sunday. Then, she made her way into the bathroom and started the taps on her bath.

Her bath was spelled to maintain her ideal temperature, but she turned away to choose which oils and bath foam to add to the water from her large selection. She settled on a lavender mix, and soon the water was piled high with layers of bubbles and filling the bathroom with relaxing scents.

Virgo sighed as she settled into the warm water. She would miss this when she started Hogwarts. Draco had said that the Slytherin dorms only had showers—showers in a bathroom shared with up to twenty other students. She dunked under the water and then settled against the side of the marble tub. There was a cushioning charm inlaid in the stone, which only contributed to the feeling that she could happily spend the rest of the day lying here.

She closed her eyes. Lately, something about being naked in a tub seemed to start her brain whirring with ideas. It had been years since she and Draco had bathed together, but she couldn’t help but think of sharing when she was alone in a basin as large as this one.

Knowing her brother, Draco would immediately take the most comfortable spot in the tub without thought. He would settle happily into the water, and then watch as Virgo undressed, eyes dark as she stepped into the water. He wouldn't be quite so chivalrous as to give his spot to her, once she sank into the water, but he also wouldn’t make her sit at the other end. No, he would pull her to sit in between his legs, and let her settle back against his chest. No cushioning charm there, but Virgo imagined that it would be just as comfortable.

Under the water, his hands would wander. He would coast his hand up her side before cupping her breasts, pulling lightly at her nipples. Soon enough, he would dip his hand between her legs, and she would widen her thighs as far as the tub would allow. He would first just cup her, pull her tightly against his body, so that she could feel his hardening prick against her bum. But then he would lightly brush her nub with his fingers, teasing it before pushing his finger into her.

As she imagined this, Virgo had allowed her hands to follow the same path. Unfortunately, as she pushed her finger into herself, she was surprised to find a lack of the natural wetness she had gotten used to. She could feel her arousal, her vagina aching for something in it, but it seemed that the water was washing away the slippery liquid. She frowned but continued to push her finger in and out.

He would hook his other hand around one of her legs, holding her open, until she could only toss her head back onto his shoulder and let him manhandle her. She knew he would smirk, and she imagined that he would start to kiss her neck and shoulder. Eventually, she would whine and rock her hips until he let go of her leg and moved his left hand back to her nub.

Virgo scrunched up her nose when she brushed her nub. That kind of touch would usually make her groan and shake, but instead it only made her wince. This wasn’t working. Apparently, sex wasn’t something to be had underneath the water.

She dunked her head underneath again and quickly washed the sweat off her skin and distributed some of her hair potion through her locks. Then she climbed out of the bath and drained the water.

Her muscles still ached, but she hardly felt them, her arousal was so distracting. She wrapped a towel around herself and walked back into her bedroom before flopping back on top of the covers. Her skin was still glistening with water, but she didn’t pay any attention to that as she let the towel fall to her side and bent her legs at her knees to get comfortable.

Well, now she needed a new fantasy. Closing her eyes, she imagined that Draco was watching her. He would be fascinated. “ _Touch your nipples_ ,” he would order, and she would. She pinched them lightly and seemed to feel the touch in between her legs. “ _That’s it, Astraea._ ” He wouldn’t be able to resist licking them. Virgo licked her own fingers before rolling her nipples between them again.

She finally could feel the wetness between her legs. She reached down with one hand and pushed a finger into herself. Much better. She thrust it in and out, until her entire body seemed to heat with arousal.

“ _I can’t wait to have my prick in you_ ,” Draco would say. “ _Show me how much you’d love it._ ” Virgo swallowed as she imagined his eyes watching—

What was that? She could have sworn she heard a door open, but—it couldn’t be. She thought she heard someone’s sharp intake of breath by the door. Only one person ever came into her room, even if lately he had been knocking before he entered. But he wasn’t saying anything now.

She hoped he didn’t notice the blush rising to her cheeks, or the game would be up. Instead, she spread her legs wider and added another finger to the first, thrusting them in and out faster. The wetness made a sloppy sound that she was sure he could hear from across the room.

Even with her eyes closed, this was better than a fantasy. He must be watching, right? He would’ve said something if he didn’t want to see it, and she hadn’t heard the door open for him to leave. She wondered if he was touching himself, or if he was just shocked still, staring with his mouth open. Virgo exaggerated a low moan, wondering if the sound made him remember all the times that he had made her make that sound.

She pushed her other hand between her legs to tease her nub. This time, she didn’t need to exaggerate; she threw her head back and moaned without intention. She found it difficult to keep her thrusting fingers and other hand moving at the same time, but either way, the sensation was steadily building. She found herself arching off the bedspread, allowing her fingers to reach different places. Her hips began rocking, trying to help keep the rhythm of her fingers. She wondered if this made Draco want to try again. She wondered if he was steadily creeping closer, if she’d open her eyes to find him at the edge of her bed, watching with—

 _Yes_. She shrieked as the thought of her brother licking his lips as he watched her pushed her over the threshold into full pleasure. Her head tossed as she kept up her massage, groaning and moaning until the pleasure ended. When it stopped, she pulled her fingers out and let her hips and legs collapse back to the bed. She wondered if her brother was looking between her legs, which was undoubtedly glistening out at him.

Before she could consider opening her eyes to catch him, she heard the unmistakable click of the door opening and closing again.

* * *

If she had any doubt whether she imagined the visitor to her bedroom, or whether it truly was Draco, it was gone when she came down to breakfast the next morning. Draco and Narcissa were already there, and she sat down across from her brother, only to find him blushing and avoiding eye contact.

Virgo hid her smirk behind her teacup. She didn’t think _normal_ brothers snuck into their sister’s room and watched her touch herself.

“When is Caecius coming over today?” Narcissa asked, putting down _the Daily Prophet_ to look at her daughter. Virgo tore her eyes away from watching her brother occupy himself with looking at his plate to meet her mother’s eyes.

“He’s not. Some cousin’s birthday party. It must be one of Adrianna’s younger brothers.”

Narcissa hummed. “I assumed you all were attempting to make a record for consecutive playdates. Perhaps the three of us could go into Diagon and get lunch, browse through Flourish and Blotts and take a look at the broom offerings at Quality Quidditch Supply. Draco, you know your father and I are willing to buy you a new broom before the start of the school year, now that you can have your own at Hogwarts.”

Draco looked up at Narcissa with undisguised greed in his eyes. But then his face fell, his eyes glancing at Virgo. “I can’t. Mistress Avery assigned me homework.”

Narcissa chuckled. “Darling, I know your father wants you to improve your grades for next year so that Granger girl doesn’t beat you again, but you _can_ take one day off. I will tell Mistress Avery to be lenient with any deadlines.”

Draco frowned and looked down at his food again. Virgo wondered how much it was hurting him to force himself not to check out the new broom offerings. She knew the Nimbus Two-Thousand and One had just been released, and she was sure that Draco would want to see it in person. But apparently his desire to avoid her was stronger. “Father can take me to buy a broom later this summer,” Draco countered. “I really want to finish the work Adrianna gave me.”

Narcissa furrowed her brow. “Have you and your sister traded bodies? The son I know would never pass on a chance to look at broomsticks in order to revise more.”

Virgo snorted. “I wouldn’t pass on a chance to look at broomsticks to revise either. I could do both.”

Narcissa gave her a small fond smile before looking back at Draco. He wasn’t meeting either of their eyes, instead focused on moving his eggs around his plate. Virgo took pity on him.

“If Draco wants to focus on his reading, Mother, we shouldn’t stop him. He’s right; there’s plenty of time to get a broom later this summer. You and I can go to lunch alone.”

Draco glanced up to meet Virgo’s eyes in shock. His cheeks pinked slightly when he found her looking at him and looked back down to his plate. Narcissa luckily missed their interaction, as she was observing her daughter.

“Well, alright. If it’s just going to be the two of us, we might as well head by Twilfitt and Tatting's as well. I need to make sure you have all the best robes before you’re off to Hogwarts in September.”

“Sure, Mother,” Virgo agreed, even though she thought she had plenty of robes already, and her mother’s taste ran quite a bit more formal and extravagant than she thought was normal for Hogwarts. But if Draco wanted to avoid her for the day, she would take the hit.

He couldn’t avoid her for the rest of the summer.

* * *

Draco seemed determine to avoid her for the rest of the summer. No, that wasn’t right. He was _around_ her plenty, he simply didn’t look at her, or speak to her, or acknowledge her. Virgo had thought it was bad enough during the first two weeks of summer when Draco hardly acknowledged her in Caecius’ presence, but at least then he would speak to her the rest of the day. Now he wasn’t even doing that.

Breakfasts with their mother (and occasionally their father) would pass in silence except for when Narcissa asked them direct questions. During tutoring sessions with Mistress Avery, Draco was so quiet that Adrianna seemed to believe that he was on some sort of strike. And Virgo suspected that he had ordered Gilly to help him avoid her, as she didn’t even find herself running into him in the hallway to and from their bedrooms like she usually would.

For the first couple of days after his silent visit to her bedroom, Virgo rode a wave of thrill and satisfaction. She was sure that he must have enjoyed watching her—he must still think about what they did together, and that meant that there might be a chance that she could convince him to do it again. But now, she began to doubt herself. As much as she thought he must have liked watching, since he chose to stay rather than turn and walk out of her bedroom, the longer he pretended she was invisible, the more she realized that his feelings must not be so simple, and the less likely convincing him to do anything seemed.

As much as she wanted her brother to touch her again, she would give that up forever just to have him speak to her again. She just wanted her best friend back.

Even Caecius seemed to notice that something had changed, despite that from his standpoint, Draco was always his same old mean, terse self. A few days before, he had pulled Virgo close as they walked back to the floo and whispered, “What in Merlin’s name did you do to your brother? He’s even more of a prick than normal.”

But Virgo just gave Caecius an unimpressed look and didn’t answer, and her easygoing friend let the matter drop.

Still, she thought that Draco’s current behavior was testing just how easygoing her friend truly was. Rather than abandoning Virgo and Caecius to their own devices, Draco showed up wherever the two friends went in the Manor, no matter whether it was playing Quidditch or exploring the grounds or reading in silence in the library. Furthermore, Draco avoided speaking to Virgo by filling the silence with a steady stream of backhanded comments and overt insults aimed at Caecius. At first, Virgo attempted to derail these conversations, but she found that her brother only took that as a reason to be meaner and louder, ignoring whatever she said.

Today, they were back out on the Quidditch pitch, where at least Caecius could ignore Draco’s comments by flying away or moving fast enough to catch Draco out of breath. Still, based on the dark look that fell over Caecius’ face anytime Draco beat him to the Snitch, Virgo wondered if her brother was sneaking in insults during the hunt.

Virgo sat up to rest her arms on her knees as she glumly followed the airborne boys with her eyes. The Snitch had disappeared again several minutes ago, but Draco had taken to tailing his opponent by a few meters so that he could have warning if Caecius saw the Snitch. Caecius, on the other hand, had taken to attempting feints periodically, so that Draco sometimes second-guessed himself whether to follow the younger boy’s path.

Just then, Caecius took off at high speed to the other end of the pitch, and Virgo squinted to try to tell if he had actually seen the Snitch or not. Either way, Draco followed, gaining on Caecius steadily, but then had to swerve when Caecius darted in another direction. Soon enough, Draco caught up, and the boys jostled each other as they swung around again, this time coming back to where Virgo was sitting.

Even without being a Seeker, Virgo could see glints of gold in the air in front of them. Just as the boys started to zoom past Virgo’s spot, she saw Caecius reach out his hand, just inches from the Snitch. Draco swerved and—

_WHAM!_

Draco had body checked Caecius, and with only one hand on his broom, Caecius had been unable to hold on. Caecius fell to the ground at top speed, crumpling into the grass.

“Caecius!” Virgo cried, leaping up from the lawn to run to his form.

Her friend groaned, struggling to move. Draco landed next to them, his face ashen.

Virgo clenched her jaw to prevent herself from tearing into her brother. “Gilly!” she cried instead. When the house-elf appeared, she pointed to Caecius, still prone across the grass, and explained, “He fell off his broom. Could you apparate him inside and take care of him? I’ll be there in a minute.”

Gilly nodded in understanding, and a stretcher appeared out of midair. Once Caecius was levitated safely onto the board, Gilly and Caecius disappeared.

“ _What_ were you thinking?” Virgo exploded at her brother as soon as they were gone. Draco winced, but quickly schooled his face into an aloof expression.

“It was perfectly legal,” he drawled. “If Avery wasn’t so delicate…”

“You know full well that that was blatching, and you could potentially be thrown out of a game for such an ugly hit! If you had hit him from higher up, he could be seriously hurt!”

Draco wrinkled his nose. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “He had it coming.” And then he turned on his heel and began to walk back to the manor.

Without thought, Virgo ran after her brother and shoved her hands into his back with all her force. Draco stumbled and whirled around to face her, shock written across his face.

“He _did not_ have it coming. He’s been perfectly reasonable while _you’ve_ insulted his broom, his house, his family, his vocabulary, his intelligence—if anything, you would’ve had it coming if he had knocked you off your broom!”

Draco’s mouth curled into a snarl. “Sure, side with him. You think it’s fun for me to spend the summer with you and your _new_ best friend? You think I wanted to do that?”

“I don’t know, do I?” Virgo roared. “You’re not even speaking to me! And I’m certainly not forcing you to hang out with us. Feel free to sulk on your own!”

Draco swallowed. “Fine!”

He turned and began walking back to the manor again. Virgo’s breath caught in her throat. Before she knew it, she was hurrying after him again, this time to cling to his arm and pull him around to face her. “Wait, no! Draco, please!”

“No, Virgo,” he growled. “You’ve clearly made your choice.”

“I did not!” she whined, tears falling down her cheeks now. “You’re the one making me choose! What, I’m not allowed to have friends other than you?”

Draco’s face softened at the sight of her tears, but he maintained his position. “Not _him_. I don’t like him.”

“You don’t need to like him!” Virgo bawled. “You’re the one who is choosing to spend your time with us, ignoring me and spending all your time talking to him! You’re the one who forced me to find someone else to spend time with, because—because you wouldn’t return my letters and wouldn’t speak to me and now won’t even look at me! You think I wanted this?”

Draco’s brow furrowed. “Look, Virgo, don’t—don’t cry. I’m sorry for hitting him, I didn’t mean to knock him off his broom—”

“That’s not what I’m angry about!” Virgo yelled, even though, she was, actually, fairly angry about that. “You’re punishing me for something we both did! I would’ve never asked you to show me your penis last year if I had known it would mean you would never look at me again, if it meant—if it meant I’d lose you.”

Draco’s face crumpled, and for the first time in months, he pulled Virgo into his arms. “No—you’ll never lose me, Virgo. I’m not punishing you. I’m just—”

He cut himself off but did not let her go. Virgo burrowed her face into the fabric over his collarbone, wiping her tears into the linen. His familiar smell was calming.

“You _are_. You’ve already taken away my brother, and now you’re trying to take away my only friend left. Next thing I know, you’ll tell everyone at Hogwarts not to be my friend because—because—”

She couldn’t get the courage to say, “ _because I forced my brother to commit incest_.” Still, Draco seemed to guess a similar ending to the sentence.

“I would _never_ ,” he murmured. “I would never tell anyone about what we’ve done. That’s our secret. And I’ll always be your brother, and your friend. I would never want to lose you, either.”

Virgo sniffled and wiped her nose on the fabric underneath her face again. Draco didn’t seem to mind being used as a human handkerchief. “Well, you haven’t been a good one lately,” she griped.

“I’m sorry. What can I do? I’ll do anything.”

“A Slytherin should never say that they’ll do _anything_.”

Draco laughed surprisedly, and the force of his exhale shook Virgo. “You’re the only one I’d ever trust enough to say that to.”

Virgo extracted herself from his hug to look him in the eye. “All I want is for you to talk to me again,” she explained. “And, maybe be a bit nicer to Caecius.”

Draco frowned. “I’ve just been kind of messed up recently,” he admitted after a moment. “Whenever I see you and Caecius, I think that he’s taken my place, and it’s all my fault.”

“He could never take your place.”

“You sure?”

“Promise.”

Draco nodded. “Alright. I guess I could leave you two alone. You’re right: you should be allowed to have your own friends.”

“And you won’t ignore me anymore?”

He sighed. “I’ll try not to.”

“You better,” Virgo muttered darkly as she and Draco started to walk back to the manor.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad brother,” Draco said after a moment.

Virgo felt a wave of fondness come over her, for the kind, thoughtful, loyal brother who had been pretending to be a prat for the last month. “You haven’t been _such_ a bad brother,” she explained. “It’s just that I have really high standards for brothers. Most people can’t measure up.”

Draco’s eyes glittered as a small smile wound its way onto his face. “Oh, yeah? Is it possible?”

Virgo hummed. “Oh, occasionally. I think you can do it. If you _really_ try at it.”

They grinned at each other as they walked into the manor through the door off the garden. “You should find Caecius, to make sure he’s okay,” Draco said more soberly. “You can tell him I apologize for the hit. It’s probably better if he doesn’t see me right now.”

Virgo nodded, and began to walk off, trying to guess whether Gilly took him down to the kitchen, where there would be more house-elves to help, or to one of the guest bedrooms. But then she turned back to her brother. “Hey, Draco?”

“Virgo?”

“You know I love you, right?”

Draco smiled widely, even as he blushed. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

They stared at each other for a minute before Virgo rolled her eyes, laughing, and turned away. She didn’t need to hear the words returned for her to know they were true.

Dobby was loitering in the front parlor, dusting the furniture, his ears freshly burned. Virgo had stopped wondering what Dobby must do to deserve so many corporeal punishments from her father. “Dobby, do you know where Gilly took Caecius?”

He turned around speedily. “Mistress Virgo! Dobby does not know. Dobby has been a good elf, cleaning the parlor like Master ordered, since Master left for the Ministry hours ago, even though Dobby's fingers have gone numb…”

“Alright, Dobby,” Virgo said, accustomed to Dobby’s chatterbox ways. “Do you think you could pop down to the kitchen and see if Gilly’s there? The parlor looks quite clean, I’m sure Father will understand if you take a break.”

Dobby shifted from one foot to the other, uncertain. “Is Mistress Virgo _ordering_ Dobby to take a break?”

Virgo rolled her eyes to herself. “Sure, Dobby. Just go find where Gilly and Caecius are, alright?”

He nodded and saluted her, and then disappeared with a great crack. After a minute, he returned and informed her that they were in the kitchen. Virgo quickly made her way in that direction.

The Manor’s kitchen was more likely to be frequented by the house-elves than their masters. All the kitchen elves looked up at Virgo when she entered, surprised. She found Gilly standing on a stool in order to lean over the table where Caecius lay, feeding him a potion. Nearby, Taruther, seemingly taking a break from his duties, was watching.

“How is he?” Virgo asked as she approached. One of the kitchen elves asked her if she wanted anything to eat, but she waved him away.

“Bloody sore,” Caecius answered before Gilly could speak, meeting Virgo’s eyes with a cool gaze.

Virgo exhaled in relief. At least Caecius was awake and able to complain. She turned back to Gilly. “Any broken bones?”

“A sprained wrist, young mistress, but it’s fixed.”

“Your brother is lucky that he didn’t kill me,” Caecius growled.

“He says he’s really sorry,” Virgo murmured. “He didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”

“Sure, he didn’t,” Caecius scoffed. “He’s nasty and a cheat and is probably going to gloat at the first chance he gets. I don’t understand how you can put up with him, Virgo.”

Virgo pursed her lips. “No, you don’t understand,” she declared forcefully. “So, don’t bother trying. He’s my brother.” Her glare softened at Caecius’ shock. “Anyway, he won’t be playing with us anymore. We can even go back to your house, if it would be better.”

“My mother might demand it once she hears what happened today,” he muttered. “How did you convince him to leave us alone?”

Virgo shrugged. “I asked.”

Caecius furrowed his brow, but then sighed, and his familiar relaxed smile slid onto his face again. “You’re right, I don’t understand you two. I guess I won’t bother trying. As long as you’re still okay coming to my house to hang out with me, it doesn’t matter.”

She smiled. “You’re a good friend, Caecius.”

“And don't you forget it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the last chapter before they go back to Hogwarts, and I'm psyched to write it. First appearance of some highly anticipated characters 😉
> 
> Feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Malfoy family makes the trip to Diagon Alley to get Draco and Virgo's school supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I’m back! I started work back up on the 11th and thought I was going to be able to stick with my normal writing schedule, but obviously that didn’t happen. Anyway, I'm back making writing part of my daily routine, and had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but just a heads up that since I’m now back at work I’ll be aiming for updating once a week rather than every 3-5 days.
> 
> Also, one of the following scenes quotes dialogue heavily from canon, but considering I’m not making any money of this, I’m refraining specifically pointing out the lines. Check out Chamber of Secrets pages 60-63 if you're curious what's my own creation and what's JK's.

“We’ll have to stop by Twilfitt and Tattings to get Virgo a new winter cloak as well,” Narcissa murmured as she spread jam onto some toast a few weeks later.

Lucius scoffed. “Narcissa, does the girl really need any more clothes? You take her to that store every time you go into Diagon.”

“Pardon me for thinking that Scotland is much colder than Wiltshire, and that as Malfoys we should make sure our children have the _best_.”

Draco and Virgo exchanged amused glances. It was best to stay quiet when their parents were having a showdown, lest they realize that their children were taking notes on how to manipulate them.

Lucius harrumphed, but yielded. “Fine. You and Virgo can go get her cloak and her school robes while Draco and I run an errand at Borgin and Burke’s.”

Narcissa scowled. “I hardly think Draco is old enough to accompany you to that man’s store.”

“He’ll have to learn to recognize the sort down Knockturn soon enough,” Lucius declared as he picked _the Daily Prophet_ back up. Narcissa seemed to realize that continuing this argument was a losing battle and instead turned to her children.

“Do you need anything for school other than your schoolbooks, darling?” she asked Draco.

“I’ll need some refills of a few potion ingredients, and Professor Snape mentioned that if I bought a gold cauldron he would give me some private lessons to help me understand the effect.”

Virgo looked up from her oatmeal. Her brother had not mentioned such a promise.

Lucius stared at his son over the top of the paper. “Really? Because Severus once gave me a very lengthy lecture on why gold cauldrons were for potion masters with more style than substance. Has he changed his opinion?”

Draco’s cheeks flushed. “Perhaps I misunderstood,” he muttered.

“Perhaps you did,” Lucius echoed, and raised the paper again after given his son his most intimidating stare.

Virgo tried to muffle her laugh with her teacup, but Draco still shot her an affected glare. She rolled her eyes. Draco should know better than to try to manipulate their father so obviously.

“We can get Draco’s potion ingredients at the same time as we get Virgo’s phials and scales from Slug & Jiggers,” Narcissa continued as she looked over Draco and Virgo’s lists. “Virgo already has her cauldron, of course. But we will need her wand.”

Lucius groaned. “You can do that, darling,” he announced.

Narcissa frowned. “I find Ollivander as strange as you do, dear. You won’t pawn off that duty like you did last year.”

“You know your Occlumency is better than mine,” Lucius murmured after a moment. “It wouldn’t do to have Ollivander discover any of our family secrets while we’re picking up the wand.”

Draco and Virgo furrowed their brows. “What’s Occlumency, Father?” Virgo interrupted.

Lucius sighed as he stared at his wife, as if to say _Look what you made me do._ Narcissa chuckled. “She’ll only look it up later, Lucius. And it wouldn’t hurt to have her prepared.”

“Occlumency is the art of protecting your mind against external penetration,” Lucius explained after a minute of silence. Draco snorted, obviously finding the last word funny. Their father shot him a glare. “A small number of wizards are capable of Legilimency, the magical art of invading another’s mind to gain insight into their thoughts and memories. Ollivander is one such wizard. Occlumency is the only defense against such invasion.”

Draco and Virgo gaped at their father. “You mean, Ollivander knows what everyone is thinking? You didn’t tell me that when I went to him last year!” Draco exclaimed.

Lucius looked unimpressed at his son’s disbelief. “First of all, Legilimency requires eye contact, so no, Ollivander doesn’t know what _everyone_ is thinking. Second of all, anyone who is an adequate Occlumens is immune to his powers, as I just explained. Third of all, I suspect Ollivander uses his Legilimency in order to make shopping for a wand more efficient, as once he determines your personality, he can narrow down the wand choices; he does not care about an eleven-year old’s secrets beyond such a purpose. Your mother and I, on the other hand, would rather he not have the chance to root around our minds.”

Draco scrunched his nose up but did not respond. Virgo knew what he was thinking. Their father might not think an eleven-year-old had any significant secrets to hide, but they both didn’t want to find out what would happen if Ollivander found any of their more intimate memories while he was exploring their minds.

Narcissa looked pensive as she surveyed her husband. “I would consider enduring Ollivander’s presence for you, my darling, if you would take the children to Flourish and Blotts without me. Why you insist that we need to do their shopping on the day that Gilderoy Lockhart is hosting a book signing, I do not know. I would rather not share the same air as that buffoon and his idiotic admirers.”

Lucius sighed. “Very well. I will navigate the rift raff, and you can hold off the nutcase.” He raised his paper in front of his face again.

Narcissa smirked. Virgo had the distinct impression that getting out of going to Flourish and Blotts was her mother’s original intention. Soon enough, though, Narcissa hid her smirk and turned back to her children. “We’ll leave at nine o’clock sharp, my dears. Virgo, make sure to braid your hair tidily, you never know who we’ll run into in town.”

“Yes, Mother,” Virgo acquiesced, as she and her brother slid from their chairs to go get ready.

Once they rounded the corner and began climbing the stairs, Draco grabbed Virgo’s elbow to pull her close. “I don’t care what Father says, you better avoid Ollivander’s eyes as much as possible,” he muttered.

“I know, right?” Virgo agreed. “I can’t believe I’ve never heard of Occlumency or Legilimency before. I’m looking it up as soon as we get home today.”

Draco smiled fondly and released her arm. They reached the top of the stairs before either of them spoke again. “But Father’s taking me along to Knockturn, isn’t that brilliant? I wonder what it’ll be like?”

“I wonder what errand he needs to do so desperately,” Virgo responded. “He’s hardly even mentioned his errands down Knockturn in front of us before.”

“Maybe he realizes I’m mature enough to handle it now,” Draco suggested, his chin held a bit higher than normal.

Virgo hid her smile. “He must,” she agreed, turning her face away so that Draco did not notice her rolling eyes.

* * *

“Put that away, Virgo,” her mother scolded at half past nine as they walked from Ollivander’s Wand Shop to Twilfitt’s.

Their trip to the wand seller had gone smoothly, even with Virgo avoiding Garrick Ollivander’s eyes. Now, she exuberantly waved her new wand through the air, watching sparks fly through the sunny street in front of her. She was extremely pleased with the purchase, from the warmth her magic took on when she held the wand to the way that the polished cypress wood matched her long blonde hair. Still, she tucked it back into its box when asked, although the smile remained across her face.

Twilfitt’s was crowded for a Wednesday, packed with families of Hogwarts students collecting the necessary garments for the next year. Still, the young manager immediately sought Narcissa out, leading her and Virgo into their customary booth and quickly attending to their needs. Soon enough, Virgo was the owner of a new fur-trimmed cloak and several pairs of fashionable dragon-hide gloves, and Narcissa had summoned Taruther to help carry the bags behind them as they continued on to Madam Malkin’s for Virgo’s official school robes.

Unsurprisingly, Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions was similarly busy with Hogwarts students, although Madam Malkin was undoubtedly used to this surge every August. During the rest of the year, her shop was home to only a couple of fitting stations, but today she seemed to have crammed footstools and attendants into any spare space she could find. Still, when she spotted Narcissa and Virgo, she led them immediately to the most coveted spot in front of the wide swatch of mirrors in the back of the shop, where a girl a few years older than Virgo was currently getting fitted for her school robes.

A short, whispered conversation between Madam Malkin and the attendant quickly resulted in Virgo taking the girl’s spot, and soon Narcissa was perched in the armchair a few feet away, being served tea personally by Madam Malkin while Virgo was swaddled in black fabric.

Virgo was accustomed to the fitting process and held perfectly still as the attendant measured her collar and tailored the shoulders to match Virgo’s slight build. After a few minutes, the attendant lowered herself to her knees and began to hem the robe, and Virgo allowed herself to look around the shop.

She didn’t recognize any of the other students, although the girl whom Madam Malkin had ousted from Virgo’s footstool was glaring across the shop at her. Virgo resisted rolling her eyes and turned instead to observe the boy next to her.

The only other permanent fitting area was currently occupied by a boy with glossy curly hair and his mother, who looked on from an armchair like Narcissa’s with a similarly aloof expression. Unlike Narcissa, the woman was clad in muggle clothes. The boy must have noticed Virgo looking in their direction, because he turned to meet her eyes with a smile.

“First-year, are you?” he asked jovially. “I don’t remember seeing you at school last year.”

“Yes,” Virgo answered.

“I’m a second year,” he continued. “Justin Finch-Fletchley.” He held out his hand for Virgo to shake. His attendant cast him a disgruntled look for the way the action contorted the fabric she was working on, but Justin either did not seem to notice or ignored it.

“Virgo Malfoy.”

A strange look passed over Justin’s face. “Are you related to Draco?”

“He’s my brother,” Virgo answered. “Do you know him?”

“We had a few classes together, being in the same year and all, even though we’re not in the same house.” Justin’s voice had lost some of its cheer, and he cast his eyes forwards, as if he had already decided that that would be the end of the conversation.

“What house are you?” Virgo asked. She continued the conversation simply to be contrary. This would be good practice for Hogwarts, if most students reacted to the Malfoy name the way this boy had.

Justin looked back at her, seemingly surprised that she was interested. “Hufflepuff. Do you think you’ll be a Slytherin like your brother?”

Virgo shrugged. “We’ll see what the Sorting Hat decides. Did you think you were going to be a Hufflepuff before you were sorted?”

Before Justin could answer, their conversation was interrupted by Narcissa. “I’d like the robe taken in more around her waist,” she advised the girl hemming Virgo’s robe. “The standard robes are so… shapeless.”

The girl capitulated quickly and graciously, although her mouth was pursed when she returned to her work. Virgo turned back to Justin.

His eyes darted back to her from where he had been observing Narcissa’s instructions. “I didn’t know Hufflepuff from Slytherin before Hogwarts,” he admitted. He glanced at his mother. “I’m muggle-born, you see.”

“Didn’t you read up on Hogwarts beforehand?”

Justin shrugged. “I thought Professor Burbage—that’s the muggle studies professor, she came to my house to explain everything to my parents and me, and then showed us how to get into Diagon Alley to get my school things—would’ve told me anything important.”

Virgo tried not to show her disbelief on her face.

“Anyway, it all worked out, didn’t it? None of us can change what house we’re placed in—it’s all up to the Sorting Hat. Knowing wouldn’t have done me any good.”

Virgo thought of Daphne Greengrass and how she had thought the Sorting Hat deferred to her preferences in the end. “I suppose that’s true,” she replied vaguely, although she did not at all agree.

“The sleeves are too long; you’ll need to take them up.” This time, it was not Narcissa who interrupted, but Justin’s mother, who seemed to exude the same intimidating energy as Virgo’s mother. Virgo and Justin exchanged glances, silently commiserating at their mothers’ ways.

“What’s that that your mother is wearing?” Virgo murmured quietly while Mrs. Finch-Fletchley was occupied.

“What do you mean?” Justin looked at his mother, trying to identify the garment in question.

“Over her legs,” Virgo explained.

“You mean her skirt? You’ve never seen a skirt before?”

Virgo bristled slightly. “Where would I have seen one before?”

“Haven’t you ever been into Muggle London?”

“Only to go to King’s Cross,” Virgo explained. “How does it stay up?”

Justin shrugged. “Never worn one, have I?” At Virgo’s confused look, he explained further. “Men don’t wear skirts. But I suppose her hips keep it from falling down.”

Virgo considered this. She found something about the look of the tartan skirt pleasing. Even her best summer robes, inlaid with cooling charms, didn’t look as comfortable and stylish as she thought Mrs. Finch-Fletchley’s outfit did. She wondered what other fashion the Muggle world was hiding. What she’d give to have some alternatives to the formal robes that Mother forced on her…

“You’re all finished, hon,” the attendant announced to Justin after finishing altering his sleeves to his mother’s specifications.

“Nice to meet you, Virgo,” Justin announced as he hopped down from the footstool and followed his mother up to the front of the store to pay.

Virgo’s alterations took only a few minutes more, although Narcissa ordered four more robes of the same measurements from the shop. Taruther was ordered to stay behind to await the completed robes, but Virgo thought that it was just as much to oversee their completion on schedule. Still, before long, Narcissa and Virgo met up with Lucius and Draco in front of Slug & Jiggers.

Virgo did not have much preference over her scales or phials, and therefore left their selection up to her mother and father, which was lucky because Draco hauled her out of their earshot nearly as soon as they entered the store.

“You won’t believe what Father’s errand was,” Draco hissed once they had stopped in front of the doxy eggs.

Virgo considered. “Arranging Dumbledore’s murder,” she guessed wildly.

“What? No, of course not. Have you been reading more of those crime mysteries that Mother hates?” Draco did not wait for Virgo’s answer. “We went to that shop that Ulrich Burke’s family used to own—Borgin and Burke's. Anyway, Father was _selling_. Apparently, he’s worried that the Ministry is looking to raid the manor—he said something about the Weasley patriarch, and some act he’s trying to pass.”

“The Muggle Protection Act?” Virgo guessed.

Draco furrowed his brow. “Yeah, that sounds right. How did you know that?”

“Mother said something about it earlier this summer,” she explained. “But she didn’t say that Mr. Weasley was behind it, or that Father thought the Ministry is going to raid the manor. That’s not good.”

“Don’t worry,” Draco murmured. “Father’s much too smart to get caught by a _Weasley_. He’s got the minister in his pocket. Anyway, how was your shopping? You got your wand alright?”

Virgo nodded. “Even without making eye contact with Mr. Ollivander. Taruther’s got it with my robes, though, I’ll have to show it to you later. Hey, I met one of your classmates at Madam Malkin’s.”

“Oh, yeah?” Draco asked mildly, as he inspected the powdered dragon claw on the next shelf. “Who?”

“Justin Finch-Fletchley.”

Draco scoffed. “That mudblood?”

A woman standing down the aisle from them gasped and looked at Draco in shock. Virgo and Draco both stared at her until she walked away in a huff. Still, Virgo lowered her voice. “What’s a mudblood?” she asked.

“Father said it on the way back to Diagon, when I was complaining about Granger—you should have heard him berating me about my grades in front of the shopkeeper. I gather it means muggle-born, except more fitting of their worth.”

“You’d best be careful, Draco,” Virgo advised. “You saw how that woman reacted; I bet it’s really rude. Father’ll be angry if you’re heard saying such things by the wrong people. Especially with what you just learned about the Ministry. We can’t mess things up for Father.”

“I didn’t mean to get overheard,” Draco pouted.

“I know,” Virgo soothed. “That woman must have ears like a bat.”

“She sure looked like one,” Draco snickered. Virgo rolled her eyes and led him out of the aisle.

“Where have you two been?” Narcissa asked when Virgo and Draco found their parents, settling up with one of the clerks.

“Trying to make the Erumpent Horn explode,” Virgo answered promptly. Draco snickered, and even Narcissa had a small smile as she sighed.

“That’s my cue to head home,” she announced. “Dear, make sure our _darling_ children don’t get into any trouble at Flourish and Blotts, won’t you?”

“They will surely regret it if they do,” he advised them severely as the family left Slug and Jigger’s.

“Did you spend the whole time down Knockturn?” Virgo asked her brother in a whisper as they followed their father through Diagon.

“No, we went by Quality Quidditch Supplies as well. _And_ I convinced him to get me a Nimbus Two Thousand and One.”

Virgo looked at her brother in shock. “You sure saved that tidbit for last.”

“That’s not even the best part,” Draco explained as they approached the crowd outside Flourish and Blotts, consisting of mainly middle-aged witches. “He said he’d buy all of Slytherin team one if they gave me the Seeker spot without a trial.”

“What?” Virgo asked, sure she misheard him. Unfortunately, they had to pause their conversation as Lucius was waiting for them in front of the shop, ready to shepherd them through the crowd. Luckily, most of the crowd was in a line to meet Lockhart and get him to sign a copy of his newest book, therefore the Malfoys were able to skip the queue and get inside to get their schoolbooks.

“I’m hoping neither of you need this moron’s autobiography for school,” Lucius drawled in a low voice to his children.

“No, Father,” Virgo submitted. She had wondered whether the autobiography would be useful background reading for the Lockhart books required for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was not worth enduring either this line or her father’s frustration.

“You get your other books, I’ll collect two copies of all of Lockhart’s books for you both,” Lucius advised. “Meet at the counter.”

“Yes, Father,” Draco complied. Then he took Virgo by the arm and led her up the stairs to the upper level. “Come on, most of the schoolbooks are up here.”

It was slightly less busy up here, although there were still plenty of women tittering and leaning over the banister in an attempt to glimpse Lockhart. Draco and Virgo stuck close together as they worked their way through the crowd.

“What do you mean, without a trial?” Virgo asked once they had reached a pocket of free space.

Draco looked confused for a moment before he remembered the conversation that had been interrupted. “Well, I told him that it’s hardly even worth buying a new broom unless we know I’m on the team. So, Father said that he had ways to get me on, and that’s when he suggested buying brooms for the other players. I can’t wait to see Potter’s face when he sees them. Who cares if Dumbledore himself bought Potter a Nimbus last year—when my whole team has better models now?”

Virgo frowned but didn’t say anything. She consulted their book list and led the way towards the History section.

“What?” Draco asked pointedly once Virgo had found _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot. Virgo glanced back at him. His eyes were narrowed as he took in her facial expressions.

“You’re not going to like it,” Virgo murmured in warning.

Draco frowned but looked resigned. “Just say it, Virgo.”

“Well, look,” she began, as she considered what she wanted to say. “Are you trying to get on the team because you love Quidditch, or because you want to stick it to Potter?”

“How can you even ask that?” Draco hissed. “Obviously, because I love Quidditch. Sticking it to Potter’s just the cherry on top.”

Virgo had moved on to the Charms section, where she had added Miranda Goshawk’s _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ and _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 2)_ to her stack. “Well, are any of the other players going to respect you if they think the only reason you got on the team was because we’re rich?”

Draco shrugged. “The Slytherins will. They know that matches are won by the brooms as much as the players.”

Virgo sighed and tried a different tactic. “You’re a really good player, Draco,” she muttered. “You could get on the team without a bribe. Father could buy the team the brooms after you’ve gotten through tryouts.”

Draco didn’t respond, and Virgo took the opportunity to shove the heavy stack of books into his arms while she pushed onwards to the Transfiguration section. Draco followed obediently, although he still had a frown on his face.

“What if I don’t?” Draco whispered as she collected _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch and added it to her brother’s arms. “Zabini’s a pretty good Seeker, too, and he could be planning on trying out. Not to mention all the other upperclassmen.”

“If Zabini is your biggest competition, you’ll be fine,” Virgo argued. “Anyway, if you don’t get on the team, you can still bribe your way on after the fact. Just don’t do it if you don’t need to.”

Draco didn’t respond. “Is that the last of them?” he asked, nodding at the stack of books in his arms.

Virgo nodded and let him lead the way down the back staircase to the registers, where Lucius was already waiting in line amongst several women purchasing Lockhart’s _Magical Me_ autobiography. Draco had just handed over their books to their father when a loud voice rang out through the store.

“It _can’t_ be Harry Potter?” The customers around them began murmuring excitedly, looking around at where the shout had come from. Draco and Virgo left their father to complete their purchase while they went to investigate, a scowl across Draco’s features.

They had found the place where the line of tittering women ended. In the back corner of the shop was a large table piled high with hard cover copies of _Magical Me_ , where Gilderoy Lockhart had evidently been seated signing them for his fans. At that moment, though, he was standing, having grabbed Harry Potter from the line and pulled him forward for a picture.

Virgo felt Draco tense up further next to her at the sight of his foe smiling awkwardly at the photographer. Virgo, on the other hand, took in the sight curiously. Potter was… smaller than she expected. Logically, she knew that Harry Potter was Draco’s age, but the way the stories about the Boy Who Lived were told made her expect something more than a skinny boy with dirty muggle clothes and messy hair.

Lockhart and the photographer seemed to be satisfied with the impromptu photo shoot, as the former turned back to the crowd, his arm still tightly wound around Potter’s shoulders.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lockhart began in a booming voice. “What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I’ve been sitting on for some time!

“When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography—which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge. He had _no idea_ that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!”

Around Draco and Virgo, customers clapped and cheered at the announcement. Virgo’s face now bore a scowl similar to Draco’s. This ridiculous man was to be her professor?

Lockhart was now gesturing for one of the bookstore clerks to hand Potter the entire collection of his books. “Come on,” Draco grumbled to Virgo, as they watched the small boy sink under the weight of the books. He took her wrist and began leading them through the crowd towards Potter.

Virgo had no choice but to let him pull her through the store, bumping against bodies and books until they were at Potter’s side. Potter was pushing all the books into the cauldron of a small redheaded girl about Virgo’s age. Draco dropped Virgo’s hand as he reached them.

“Bet you loved that, didn’t you, Potter? Famous Harry Potter,” he sneered. “Can’t even go into a bookshop without making the front page.”

“Leave him alone, he didn’t want all that!” exclaimed the redhead with a ferocious glare. Potter took his eyes off Draco to look at her in vague amazement, while the customers around them stirred at the exclamation. Virgo fidgeted nervously. This, surely, was not the kind of public exposure their family name needed right now.

Unfortunately, Draco seemed to have none such reservations. “Potter, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend!” Harry and the girl both blushed but didn’t respond. Another redhead and a girl with tan skin and bushy brown hair were pushing their way towards them.

“Draco…” Virgo muttered, grabbing his wrist in supplication. Draco turned back to her, his sneer softening.

“You’re one to talk about girlfriends, Malfoy,” Potter responded. “Who’s the groupie?”

Draco wrinkled his nose. “Gross, Potter. She’s my sister.”

Virgo hastily dropped Draco’s wrist.

The other redhead and the girl Virgo assumed must be Hermione Granger had finally reached them. Weasley and Draco traded sneers and taunts, until the former was so incensed by Draco’s comment about his family’s wealth (or lack thereof), that he seemed determined to start a physical fight. More worrisome was that Draco had balled his fists at his sides as if prepared to do the same.

Luckily, three other redheads that Virgo identified as Mr. Weasley and Weasley twin one and two came over, distracting Ron. Virgo took her chance, grabbing Draco’s arm again and hissing to him, “Draco, come on! Father will—”

But she never finished telling Draco what their father would do, as the man himself arrived.

“Well, well, well—Arthur Weasley,” Lucius drawled as he lay a hand on Draco’s shoulder. At his touch, Draco relaxed slightly, and Virgo dropped her brother’s arm yet again. Their father would extricate them from this situation without Draco sticking his foot into it, but Virgo was sure there would be hell to pay later.

“Lucius,” Mr. Weasley responded, with undisguised contempt.

“Busy time at the Ministry, I hear,” Lucius commented, as he subtly shouldered in front of Draco and Virgo. “All those raids…I hope they’re paying overtime?”

Virgo’s father reached into the cauldron of books in front of the Weasleys, retrieving a book that had clearly not been bought from Flourish and Blotts, as it was obviously second (or third) hand.

“Obviously not,” Lucius continued, while Mr. Weasley blushed. “Dear me, what’s the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don’t even pay you well for it?”

Virgo didn’t think it was possible for someone to flush as red as Mr. Weasley was now. She observed in terrible fascination the face-off between the fathers. Lucius was speaking quietly, but Virgo was still sure that people must be watching the stand-off. This was not the way she expected her father to deal with the situation.

“We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy,” Mr. Weasley quipped back with a locked jaw.

“Clearly,” Lucius echoed, and he eyed the pair of adults that had joined the group significantly: two adults dressed in muggle clothing, who looked remarkably similar to Granger. “The company you keep, Weasley…and I thought your family could sink no lower—"

Draco jerked Virgo away from the two adults as Mr. Weasley charged into Lucius, knocking him into a bookshelf. The two men seemed to forget their carried wands as fists flew and books fell. Draco pulled Virgo close as the crowd charged this way and that to avoid the fight, knocking over more bookshelves in the process.

From the crowd of fleeing people came a bigger man than Virgo had ever seen, pushing through the bodies as if they were only flowers in a field. “Break it up, there, gents, break it up—” he called calmly, and seized Lucius and Mr. Weasley each by one hand and pulled them up by their robes.

It wasn’t apparent how much of their injuries was a result of the other’s fighting prowess and how much was simply a result of the avalanche of books. Either way, Mr. Weasley’s lip was bleeding, and Virgo’s father was clutching his eye in pain, looking more disheveled than she’d ever seen him before.

“Here girl—take your book—it’s the best your father can give you—” Lucius shoved the weathered Transfiguration book back into the cauldron he had taken it from and pulled Draco and Virgo from the store.

Draco waited until their father had apparated the three of them back to the manor before he spoke. Even Virgo, who was both horrified at the fight, and horrified that her father had apparated both of them, an act he had always said risked splinching, stayed silent.

“That was brilliant, Father!” Draco exploded, following their father as he stumbled into the sitting room to collapse on the couch. “That’ll show the wizarding world what kind of man that Weasley is—punching you for a few quips, in the middle of the shop—”

Lucius did not respond but to call Dobby, who appeared with a crack and immediately began healing Lucius’ bruises and bumps.

“I’ve told you that Ron Weasley is no better—doesn’t even duel with wands like a proper wizard, immediately brings fists into it. I bet Weasley would have punched me as well if _Potter_ hadn’t held him back, earlier—”

“Enough, Draco,” their father announced. Despite their father’s low volume, Draco suspended his commentary immediately. “Do not take my actions as tacit approval of your foolhardy taunting. If you get into more fights with either Weasley or that Potter boy this year, it will set this family back more than you know.”

“What, like you just did?” Virgo interjected before she could resist. Her father pushed Dobby away from where he was fussing over his bruised eye to glower at his daughter. Still, she continued. “How do you expect us to listen to the lectures about not bringing shame to our family when you go and pull—that?”

“Do not assume you have the full picture,” Lucius hissed, looming forward dangerously. “You are a child, and I am your father. You will listen to me or learn the consequences.”

“The full picture—you mean the stupid Muggle Protection Act? You really think the Ministry will look more kindly on you now that you’ve gotten into a public brawl with one of its employees? Oh, yeah, they really won’t raid the manor now!”

Lucius’ eyes blinked from his daughter to his son silently. Virgo paled as she realized she had revealed how much Draco had told of the trip to Borgin and Burke’s.

Their father stood. “Virgo,” he began in a familiar dangerous drawl. “Go to my study and wait there for me. You should know by now what is in store for you when you question me. I need to have a small chat with your brother. Undoubtedly, you will hear _all_ about it from him later.”

Virgo’s heart sunk, and she slunk from the room without a word.

* * *

Draco was waiting for her in her bedroom when Lucius was finished. He had found one of the mystery novels that she had hidden from her mother, and was reading it on her bed, but looked up when she limped into the room. Neither of them said anything as she walked straight into her closet and changed into her night robe.

When she came out, she brought with her the healing salve she had left over from the last time Lucius had reason to use his stinging hex on her. She lay down next to Draco with a sigh, uncapped the salve, and reached up her robe in order to rub the mixture over the welts on her thighs.

Draco looked away.

When she had finished, and the pain had leeched from her skin and she could feel the welts beginning to heal, she righted her robe and looked over at her brother. He sighed and put down the book.

“I’m sorry I got you in trouble for telling me about Borgin and Burke’s,” Virgo murmured sullenly.

Draco wrinkled his nose and wriggled until his face was at the same level as hers. Virgo stared into his familiar grey eyes without blinking. “You know better than to speak to Father that way,” he whispered.

“He was being hypocritical,” Virgo pouted. “What he was saying didn’t make sense.”

“He’s our father,” Draco replied. “He doesn’t need to make sense. We still need to listen to him.”

Virgo frowned, but did not reply. She didn’t want to argue with Draco, but she didn’t think they would ever see eye to eye on this matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave me a line in the comments to tell me what you think! Or fill out the anonymous feedback form [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September 1st has come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a longer one this week!
> 
> Also: some of you may have noticed that I added a bit to the summary of this fic: if you have any feedback on which version you prefer, lemme know.

Virgo couldn’t sleep the night of August 31st. Somehow, in the day’s whirlwind of packing, of arguing with Narcissa about the number of her robes she would actually need at Hogwarts, and of pleading with her father to increase the number of books he would allow her to take from the manor’s library, she had managed to forget her anxiety. But now, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom for what would be the last time in months, there was nothing to distract her.

She had been waiting for this day for years—from the moment she had learned what Hogwarts was (and that Draco would be attending too). Now, she wanted to kick herself for only focusing on the positives. The writhing in her stomach reminded her of the anxiety she had before all of Mistress Avery’s exams—as the hours dwindled, she found she could only focus on how she could have prepared more.

Was she prepared for Hogwarts? Sure, she knew some spells, and etiquette, and history. But did she know how to make friends with strangers? Did she know how to respond to people who judged her and her family for their name and associations? Did she know how to function if the Sorting Hat didn’t listen to her, if she was separated from Draco and everyone she had grown up with?

She thought again of her conversation with Justin Finch-Fletchley in Madam Malkin’s two weeks ago and found herself even more incredulous of his easy-going attitude than she had been at the time. She could not empathize with the opinion that prior knowledge of what Hogwarts had in store—the Sorting Hat, the houses, the professors, the ghosts—wouldn’t change anything. More knowledge was always better.

Another half of an hour passed. Virgo was now debating whether to risk her mother’s wrath by digging through her perfectly packed trunk for _Hogwarts, a History_ , and having to repack it in the morning. Instead, she finally got up the courage to climb out of bed and make the familiar trek out of her bedroom, through the hallway, and into the adjacent room where Draco slept.

The room was pitch black, but Virgo’s eyes had adjusted over the last several hours of tossing and turning, and she was able to make her way to his bed silently. Her brother had kicked the covers partially off so that the thick duvet seemed to form a mountain range up his body. The sight of his familiar expression, drugged by sleep, calmed some of Virgo’s tension. She exhaled and climbed into his bed for the first time in eight months.

Draco stirred, squinting into the dark. “Astr—Virgo? What are you doing?”

“I can’t sleep,” she whispered. “Can I stay here?”

Draco groaned sleepily, stirring under the blankets. “Virgo… you know we shouldn’t. You know Mother and Father wouldn’t approve.”

Virgo wondered if she had become acclimated to rejection in the last several months, as his words no longer stung. Instead she noticed that Draco’s reasoning didn’t mention that _he_ didn’t want her there. Perhaps her sleep-deprivation was making her excessively hopeful. She barreled on.

“Just for tonight, Draco,” she pleaded. “Mother and Father will never find out.”

Draco sighed, twisting to lay on his side to look at her. “Fine,” he finally decided. “But we can’t… we’ll just sleep, alright?”

“I know,” Virgo answered, although she had hoped that she could fall asleep nestled into his arms like she had once been accustomed to. She didn’t move until Draco sat up and began to straighten the sheet and duvet, pulling it to cover her as well.

Once the blankets were righted, they both lay back, staring at the ceiling. They weren’t touching at all, but they were close enough for Virgo to feel where the mattress dipped around his body with her fingertips. The weight of tiredness settled over her in a way she hadn’t been able to feel in her own bed.

After a minute, Draco spoke. “Do you want to talk about it?” he murmured. “Tomorrow?”

Virgo found that her eyes had closed without intention during their silence, and they were barely able to blink open now. She hummed, indecisive. Finally, she spoke. “Promise—promise you’ll love me no matter what happens tomorrow?”

Draco sighed and wiggled into a new position to look at her. “Everything will be okay, Virgo. You’ve already got a friend in your year—more if you include Travers and Rookwood, because I know you get along with them, too. You’ll have plenty of time to read and chat with Avery on the train ride, and then we’ll get to Hogwarts and you’ll see the castle and the lake and the Great Hall for yourself. The Great Hall will be warm and cheery and full of delicious food. And the Sorting Hat—well, we’ve got a plan, don’t we? You just tell it you want to be in Slytherin, and before you know it, we’ll be laughing that you ever stressed about it at all.”

Virgo sighed, turning to face him as well. Draco’s hand lay halfway between them on top of the blankets, as if he had reached out to her and then thought better of it.

“Just promise, okay?”

Draco frowned, but in the little light there was, Virgo could see that his eyes met hers without hesitating. “I promise you’ll never lose me, Virgo.”

* * *

Draco shook her awake the next morning. Her brother was already dressed, and the room was bright with sunlight. “You better go back to your room, Virgo,” he explained. “Mother will want to leave for King’s Cross within the hour.”

She groaned and rolled over to press her face into the pillowcase. In the light of day, her nerves weren’t quite as pressing, but she still found she wanted to stay in bed, surrounded by Draco’s scent.

The bed dipped as Draco sat down on the edge nearest her. “Come on, Virgo,” Draco prodded gently. “I know you’ll want to say goodbye to the portraits before you leave.” Virgo felt Draco’s hand brush tentatively over her hair.

Virgo ignored the tingle that ran down her back at Draco’s touch. “Yeah,” she sighed, and took one last deep breath of Draco’s scent and began to sit up.

Twenty minutes later, Virgo stood in the doorway of her bedroom for the last time. Gilly had already moved her trunk down to the entrance hall, and in its wake her bedroom looked barren. There were no books left out on her desk, her chess set was safely packed away, and the majority of her closet would be taken along to Hogwarts. Virgo sighed and closed the door.

She chose not to head down to the dining room quite yet, and instead took the stairs up to the third floor. On her way, her favorite portraits called well wishes out to her. Cyrilla reminded her about the secret passageway at Hogwarts from the Slytherin common room to the library, Vera gave her last minute advice on how to differentiate a boy flirting from a boy bullying, Erastus asked her yet again to see if his initials were still carved into the stones by the astrology tower, and Benedict encouraged her to befriend Peeves at all costs. When she arrived at the third floor, she found that Genevieve and Florentina were not present in their frames, and she had to retrace her steps. By the time she made it down to the ground floor, she was running late and her brain was filled with excess advice and information.

Armand Malfoy tried to engage her in conversation from the top of the stairs, but Virgo couldn’t allow herself to get sucked into any more advice-giving sessions, especially from an ancestor who didn’t even go to Hogwarts. She called out vague apologies as she raced down the steps, waving at her grandfather Abraxas as she passed. Then a chorus of voices called out to her, and she found Genevieve, Florentina, and even Julia waiting for her in Genevieve’s mother-in-law’s frame.

“My darling, you look beautiful,” Julia greeted as Virgo skid to a halt in front of the portrait.

Virgo reached up and pat her braided hair tentatively. “My hair looks alright?”

“ _Très jolie, ma cherie_ ,” Genevieve promised.

“I couldn’t have done it better myself,” Julia complimented.

“You’ll be just fine, Virgo,” Florentina cooed.

“I hope so,” Virgo sighed.

“Remember to check in periodically with Rutherford,” Florentina reminded. “His other portrait is at Hogwarts on the sixth floor by the stairs to the owlery, and he’ll come if you call.”

“He’ll take a message from you to any of us, so don’t hesitate to ask,” Julia explained.

“And if he doesn’t, he’ll have half the portraits in this place occupying his frame as revenge,” Genevieve laughed.

“I’ll remember,” Virgo said. In fact, she worried that she’d be bothering Rutherford far too often with requests to bring messages back home.

“Virgo, is that you?” Narcissa’s voice called from the direction of the main dining room. Virgo turned to find her mother walking towards her with a brisk pace. “You’re cutting it quite close, darling. Go get something to eat, we only have a few minutes before we’re set to leave for the station.”

“Yes, Mother.” She turned back to the portrait. “I guess this is goodbye.”

“Good luck, Virgo.”

“You’ll be fine!”

“Goodbye for now, darling.”

Virgo sighed, taking in their smiling faces one last time. Even the owner of the frame, Valentine Malfoy, to whom Virgo had rarely spoken, was smiling supportively. Virgo turned and walked off to the dining room.

Her father was the only one who was still sitting at the table, his plate forgotten in front of him as he concentrated on the newspaper in front of him. Virgo slid into her seat silently, helping herself to a piece of toast and spreading it with butter and jam.

Lucius shifted the newspaper to glance at her. While Virgo had been no stranger to her father’s discipline and disapproval through the years, their relationship had grown more stilted since their trip to Diagon Alley. Virgo expected him to simply ignore her until she left, but instead he folded the newspaper to the side and turned to face her head-on.

“Virgo,” he began with the tone of a practiced speech. Virgo chewed her toast as discretely as possible. “At Hogwarts, you will be surrounded by a variety of people to whom you have not been introduced previously. I understand you might have the inclination to socialize more broadly.”

Virgo nodded, unable to look away from Lucius’ intense gaze.

“I need you to consider our family and our reputation above your own desire for friendship. This year will be extremely important for our family’s reputation and power. There are forces and events at play that you are not aware of.”

Virgo refrained from taking another bite of her toast. She considered asking for more information about such forces and events, but she suspected it would only result in another fight.

“You need to trust that I am working for the benefit and well-being of our family. Everything I do is for your and Draco’s success and protection.”

Virgo wrinkled her nose. Of course, he’d say that. With her eyes still on her father, she took an unwieldy bite of her toast, chewing aggressively.

Lucius sighed heavily. “I need not mention that if you impede my plans or bring shame to our family, there will be consequences.”

Virgo looked back to her plate. “Yes, Father.”

Lucius sighed again, and out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him roll his eyes minutely. He pushed back his chair. “Your mother wants to leave imminently. Finish up and meet us in the entrance hall.”

* * *

In accordance with Narcissa’s appreciation for timeliness, the family got to King’s Cross with plenty of time to spare. There weren’t any other wizards or witches loitering nearby when the family appeared at the apparition point, and the Malfoys were the only people in the station clad in robes as they made their way to the barrier to platform nine and three quarters.

Still, once they passed onto the other side, the air was filled with a similar amount of noise and bustle as the muggle station. The scarlet train was idling, filling the station with the familiar smell of exhaust, but most of the students there had refrained from entering any of the carriages yet, preferring to have one last conversation with their families.

Draco and Virgo, in contrast, turned immediately to their parents to say goodbye. Narcissa called Taruther and Gilly to help them with their trunks, now that they were hidden from muggle eyes, and then turned to her children.

Virgo felt like her throat had closed as her mother lowered her head slightly and looked her in the eye. Virgo tried to swallow, but the sensation didn’t disappear. She blinked away the sudden wetness at the corner of her lashes, and instead looked into her mother's blue eyes.

“You’ll write to tell us how the Sorting goes?” Narcissa murmured as she cupped Virgo’s cheek in her palm. Virgo nodded solemnly. Her mother frowned slightly, and then continued in an even softer tone. “I have no doubt that you’ll make us proud, Virgo.”

Virgo looked down at her feet, suddenly unable to maintain eye contact with her mother and keep tears at bay. She felt Draco step forward next to her. “I’ll look after her,” Draco promised.

Lucius cleared his throat. “Remember what I have discussed with both of you,” he drawled carefully. “Represent the Malfoy name with pride, and please, for the love of Salazar, Draco, stay out of trouble this year.”

“Yes, Father,” they both echoed, and then looked at each other. In unison, they sighed and began to turn towards where Taruther and Gilly were waiting with their trunks.

“We’ll send Gregory, Vincent, and Caecius along when we see them,” Narcissa called after them. “Good luck, darlings.”

Virgo looked back one last time at her mother’s steady, supportive gaze, and her father’s solemn expression, and then followed the house elves and Draco onto the train.

Most of the compartments that they passed were empty, but Draco led them quite a bit down the train before ordering Gilly to levitate Virgo’s trunk into one. “Out of the way enough for you to get some reading done, but not so far down that Avery can’t find you,” Draco explained to Virgo.

She gave him a small smile as she sat down on the seat closest to the window. On the other side of the glass, the platform was getting more crowded, and she knew soon enough the train would be packed. She hoped that Caecius would get here soon.

Draco shifted awkwardly from foot to foot before squatting in front of her so that their faces were at the same level. “I’m going to go with Taruther to find an empty compartment for Crabbe, Goyle, and me, and then I’ll come straight back, alright? I’ll wait with you until Avery gets here.”

Virgo gave him a look. “You don’t need to, Draco. I'll be okay.”

His smile was crooked. “What, and make me wait alone as well? No, of course not. Like I said, I’ll be right back.”

Virgo rolled her eyes but smiled after him as he and Taruther took his trunk back out into the corridor and disappeared. The compartment door slammed shut after them.

She looked back around at the platform. She could no longer see her parents nor the barrier to the muggle station, since her brother had led them so far down the train. Instead, she only saw students and families hurrying down the platform, looking into the compartments from outside. Virgo tried to make herself look bigger than she was, so that none of the larger groups of students would think to join her and make her the odd one out. After a few minutes, she recognized the girl with bushy hair from Flourish and Blotts—Granger, she reminded herself—peering into each compartment in turn. They made abrupt eye contact, and Virgo quickly averted her eyes.

The compartment door slid open, and Virgo jumped. It was not Draco, as she expected, or Caecius. It was Abilene Rookwood.

“Hello, Virgo,” Abilene greeted in her typical soft, precise diction. “May I sit here?”

Virgo always had to recalibrate herself to Abilene’s expressions when she saw her again. Abilene was quite small for their age, with long, stringy brown hair and tan skin, but her eyes were always piercing. Furthermore, her face was typically expressionless, making her always seem disapproving instead of simply calm.

“Oh, Abilene, hi!” Virgo said after a moment. “Of course.”

With some difficulty, Abilene pulled her trunk into the compartment. The trunk was on wheels, but it still took both girls to push it into the corner underneath where Virgo’s sat on the middle rack. Abilene hopped onto the seat across from Virgo, her toes barely reaching the floor.

“What’s it been, a year?” Abilene asked carefully.

Virgo hummed. “The garden party last June, right?”

Abilene nodded solemnly. “Mother was quite disappointed to not receive an invitation from your family for your party this year,” she prodded.

“We didn’t have one,” Virgo explained quickly. “You would have been invited, of course.”

“Like we’re invited to your Yule balls?”

Virgo blushed and did not answer.

Abilene broke eye contact to look back out the window. “It’s understandable, of course. Most people don’t like to associate with us since my father…”

“The Malfoy name isn’t spotless either,” Virgo empathized. “I wish you were invited. But we’ll be at Hogwarts together, now, and we can move past…our parents’ associations.”

Abilene nodded and returned her unyielding gaze back to Virgo. “I’m glad to hear you say that.” The corner of her lips twisted up the slightest amount.

They both started when the door was jolted open again. Draco appeared, this time followed by Crabbe. “Virgo, I—oh, hello Rookwood.”

“Draco,” Abilene greeted. “Vincent.”

Draco’s eyes slid from Abilene’s relentless stare to Virgo. She smiled as his eyes widened slightly in silent commentary on her compartment-mate. She knew that Draco did not share her fondness for Rookwood, and only found her strange. “Listen, Virgo, Crabbe and I put our trunks in the compartment two down from this one. No sign of Avery or Goyle yet, but…”

Virgo nodded. She knew what Draco was asking, even if he didn’t say it outright. Now that they both had one companion, there wasn’t as much need to wait together. “It’s alright, Draco. I’ll see you at Hogwarts.”

“You have money for snacks from the trolley?” Draco asked. He then glanced at Rookwood, who was now digging around in the knapsack by her side. “And you’ll come get me if any upper years give you trouble or try to take your compartment?”

Virgo smiled. “Yes, Draco.” After a moment, her brother nodded and beckoned Crabbe back out into the corridor.

“Your brother is protective of you,” Abilene commented. She was still looking through her bag.

“He just knows I’m nervous,” Virgo explained.

“Are you?” Abilene looked up as she pulled out _Holiday with Hags_.

Virgo blushed slightly even as she shrugged. “Of course.”

Abilene hummed. “Me too,” she volunteered after a moment, focused on the text in her hand.

Virgo looked at the book. She had tried to read the full autobiographical works Lockhart assigned for his class, but she had found the writing too diluted by self-interested diversions to focus much on the adventure. “Did you hear that he’s to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?” she asked, motioning at the book.

“Yes,” Abilene answered. “It was in _the Daily Prophet_. I’m quite thrilled, aren’t you?”

Virgo did not know what to say. She did not understand what reasonable, serious Abilene would see in Gilderoy Lockhart. Luckily, she was saved from responding by the compartment door sliding open once again.

“There you are!” Caecius had arrived. “Your mother said you were already on the train, but I was worried you would make me trek all the way down to the end with my trunk. Oh, hello, Abi.” Caecius didn’t wait for Abilene’s response before he turned away to shove his trunk into the corner with theirs.

Instead of greeting him, Abilene just stared at Caecius’ back with something like confusion. In typical fashion, Caecius did not seem to notice any awkwardness, and instead flopped into the seat next to Virgo without hesitation.

“What are you ladies talking about?”

“Lockhart,” Virgo answered. She had already relayed Lockhart’s speech at Flourish and Blotts to Caecius, and he knew her opinion of his books.

“Ah, _Professor_ Lockhart,” Caecius corrected amusedly as the train whistle blew, and then motioned to the book still in Abilene’s hands. “What do you think?”

Abilene was silent for a moment, glancing between Caecius and Virgo as if to confirm that the question was addressed to her. “I think he’s brilliant. To accomplish all this before he’s even thirty. I have so many questions.”

Caecius hummed. “My cousin Adrianna went to school with him,” he revealed. “She always thought he was a twat, but I suppose you never know what someone will grow up to be.”

“She did? She never mentioned,” Virgo frowned.

Caecius grinned. “Probably didn’t want to set you against your future professor before you even started school. But I’ve heard her whine about him at home for years, every time he publishes another of his books. I had to promise her that I would never repeat what she said at Hogwarts.”

“And you’ve already broken that promise,” Virgo teased. The train began to move.

“Well, we’re not at Hogwarts, yet, are we? I’ve got about six hours to say whatever I want.”

Virgo rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. Her anxiety was dwindling the longer she was in her friend’s presence. Abilene returned to reading Lockhart’s book.

“Hey, you interested in opening your birthday present now?” Caecius asked. “I know I’m a few days late, but I thought it would be better to give in person.”

Virgo grinned. “Caecius! You didn’t need to get me anything.” Still, she turned in her seat and beckoned him to get the present.

Caecius stood and opened his trunk. It was clear that he didn’t have house-elves. All his clothes and books were stuffed haphazardly into the trunk, except for a small parcel that was perched on top of the pile, wrapped in shimmering paper.

“Before you open it, I would warn you that they’re a bit worse for the wear, but they were difficult to get my hands on, so…” He shrugged.

Virgo snorted. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever it is,” she promised, and then tore into the wrapping.

She had thought from the shape that it was going to be a book, but instead it was a stack of booklets covered in colorful pictures and writing. Most significantly, the pictures weren’t moving.

“They’re muggle fashion magazines,” Caecius explained as Virgo flipped through them. “I knew your parents would never get you them, but you said you liked that Justin bloke’s mum’s clothes, so I thought…”

“How did you get these?” Virgo asked, looking through the third one down, which proclaimed _VOGUE_ in big letters across the top.

“My cousin Adolphus. I had to convince him first that they weren’t for me, but he lives on his own in muggle London, so it was pretty easy for him to get them. Of course, by the time he got them to me, he had crumpled them in his bag, but…”

“They’re fantastic, Caecius,” Virgo grinned and leaned over to give him a hug. Caecius seemed to exhale at her approval.

The first half of the ride to Hogwarts went by easily for Virgo, as she was occupied flipping through the fashion magazines, and Abilene and Caecius had both found books to read. When the trolley came around, they all bought sandwiches and various sweets. Caecius then spent the next thirty minutes eating Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans and reacting to the various flavors. Virgo, who was very pleased with her Cauldron Cakes, and found the range of flavors in the jellybeans disgusting, tried to ignore him.

Halfway through the afternoon, when Abilene had pulled out her wizarding chess set from her trunk and was trouncing Virgo for the second time, Draco stopped in again. This time, he was not accompanied by Crabbe or Goyle, and looked a bit put out.

“You’ll never believe it,” he announced as he took the seat next to Abilene.

“I bet I will,” Virgo responded, as she moved her knight out of harm’s way.

“Potter’s not on the train,” Draco announced.

Virgo looked up. “How do you know that?”

Draco rolled his eyes, but his cheeks pinked slightly. “Crabbe, Goyle, and I walked up and down the whole train—it looks like Weasley isn’t here either, because Granger’s sitting with Longbottom just a few compartments over. Doesn’t seem like she knows anything, based on her reaction when I asked.”

“Did she hex you?”

“As if she would,” Draco sneered. “Bloody goody-two-shoes.”

“Well, I’m sure we would have heard if Potter was dead, injured, or kidnapped, so he must have found some other transport to Hogwarts. Maybe Dumbledore personally escorted him,” Virgo joked as she returned to the chess game.

“What’s he like?” Caecius asked. “Potter.” Abilene looked up to observe Draco’s response with sharp eyes.

Draco seemed to restrain himself from a scathing response. Considering the last time the two boys had been together, one had required medical attention, Virgo was glad her brother was playing nice. “Self-righteous prick,” he answered. “Gets special treatment from all the professors at school, and he isn’t even smart or talented.”

“Didn’t you say he got on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a first-year, Virgo? He must be fairly talented on a broom then.”

“He’s not bad—for never having flown before Hogwarts,” Draco admitted with a frown. “But he didn’t even try-out. And he got a broom—a _Nimbus_ —as a gift from his head of house, while the rest of us need to buy our own. Not sure how those Gryffindors justified that.”

“I can’t wait to be able to watch Quidditch regularly,” Caecius said. “Not to mention being able to try out next year. I hope that there will be a Seeker position available.”

“I, for one, am excited for the Gobstones Club,” Abilene said. “It’ll be nice having proper competition.”

Draco wrinkled his nose. Virgo knew that he thought everyone in the Gobstones club was losers, and she gave him a look to head off the comment. He sighed and stood.

“Well, I’ll see you at the feast. Remember to leave your trunks on the train—the house-elves will sort them. And, Virgo, please don’t fall in the lake. I’d hate to write Mother and Father the very first night with a mishap.”

“I fall off of one gondola, and now you think I can’t be trusted in boats at all…”

After Draco left and Abilene beat both Virgo and Caecius at chess one more time, Virgo dosed off for a bit. By the time she woke, the sky was dark outside the window, and Abilene and Caecius were sitting in silence, faces tense. When Caecius saw she was awake, he attempted to return to his normal joviality.

“I thought you were going to sleep through the feast! I think we’re almost there—we seem to be slowing down a bit.”

“We better change into our Hogwarts robes,” Abilene said. “Caecius, would you mind watching the door while Virgo and I change?”

Virgo blushed. She hadn’t worn panties since Draco asked her to stop wearing them over a year ago. She didn’t want to have to come up with an excuse in the face of Abilene’s steady stare.

Caecius dug out his own robes from his trunk and went to the door. “Just give a knock when you’re decent, and then I’ll go to the loo to dress.”

He shut the door, and Virgo could see his outline through the frosted glass standing guard on the other side. She moved to her trunk and opened it. Just like Draco’s, the trunk was magically extended to house an entire walk-in closet. Still, the “walk-in” part was difficult when the trunk was on a shelf four feet from the ground.

With no other choice, she opened the trunk and used Caecius’ trunk to boost herself onto the rack before sliding inside. She quickly changed into her robes and used the ladder to climb out. Luckily, Abilene did not seem to find anything suspicious about her changing inside the trunk, although she did seem fascinated by the charmwork.

After Caecius returned also in his black Hogwarts robes, the trio was silent. When the conductor’s voice sounded into the compartment announcing they were five minutes from Hogwarts, all three of them grew paler. Finally, the train stopped, and they entered the crowd in the corridor trying to exit the train. Outside, the large man that had broken up Lucius’ and Mr. Weasley’s fight called out, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years to me!”

Virgo followed Caecius and Abilene through the crowd, joining the end of the line. She saw Lindsay Travers standing at the front of the line with a couple girls Virgo didn’t recognize. In front of Virgo were Jebediah Tuft, Ludvik Dolohov, and Ulrich Burke.

“I was wondering where you were, Avery,” Jebediah announced as they followed the line out of the station, through a patch of trees and down a slope. “Figures you would sit with the _girls_.”

“I would sit with you, Jeb, but Virgo actually knows what she’s talking about when it comes to Quidditch,” Caecius remarked calmly. “Where are the Tornadoes ranking in the league this year, again? Oh, that’s right—second to last, just before the Cannons.”

Virgo snorted. Luckily, Jebediah either didn’t have a comeback, or was distracted by reaching the edge of the lake, where they could glimpse the castle across the water. On the shore were a group of small dinghies, which the groundskeeper told the students to pile into. Caecius, Abilene, and Virgo got into a boat, but were joined by one of the girls that had been walking with Lindsay.

“Hello, mind if I join your boat? We didn’t have enough room for the five of us.”

As soon as all the first years had sat down in their respective boats, the dinghies began to propel across the water. Virgo heard scattered gasps from the students and rolled her eyes internally. She supposed they must have come from the muggle-borns—if they were impressed at some charmed boats, she imagined they would faint dead away at all the complicated spell work at Hogwarts.

“I’m Melinda,” the girl who had joined their boat murmured. She smiled warmly at all of them, even though Abilene hardly glanced at her.

“I’m Virgo,” Virgo answered, even as she kept her eyes on the castle as it grew steadily closer. The towers looked taller than she expected. “And this is Caecius and Abilene.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Melinda said, but then gasped as the boats floated through a small opening in the cliff face, ivy brushing the top of their heads, and entered an underground lagoon. When the boats stopped at the edge of the stone walkway, all the students hopped out after the groundskeeper.

None of the students were speaking anymore as they proceeded up through a passageway and onto the front lawn. Virgo wondered if the rest of the students were as nervous for the Sorting as she was.

A tall, stern woman was waiting at the front door of the castle. “Thank you, Hagrid,” she said to the groundskeeper. Virgo suddenly realized that the man who had been leading them had kept a dragon in his hut. She shivered as she understood that her safety had been entrusted to him.

The woman led the students into the entrance hall, while Hagrid continued through a pair of double doors to the side. For the brief moment that the doors were opened, light and sound burst into the hall.

Virgo tuned the woman—Professor McGonagall, she soon learned—out while she explained the house system to the rest of the students. It was suddenly hitting her that not only was a hat going to determine whom she would spend the next seven years with (and, whether she would make her family proud or not), but she would have this decided in front of _hundreds of other students_. Virgo had the desire to ask to go to the bathroom.

Soon enough, Professor McGonagall asked them to all form a line, and pulled the doors open. Every head in the Great Hall turned to look at them.

McGonagall led them between the two center tables towards the front of the hall, where the teachers sat at another table. Halfway down the table to Virgo’s immediate left, she spotted Draco, and met his gaze greedily. Quick as a wink, he smiled at her, and she felt a bit braver.

The first years were directed to form a line in front of the staff table, facing the student body. Virgo found herself between Caecius and Melinda. With so many faces staring at them, Virgo did not know where to look. Then, McGonagall placed a stool in front of them with a ratty hat on it, and the hall grew silent.

And then the hat began to sing. Virgo could hardly concentrate on the words, as the more it sang, the closer she got to its judgment. She recognized it explaining its function and the houses’ characteristics, and then suddenly it was stopping, and the hall exploded in applause.

Then McGonagall stepped forward, and called out, “Avery, Caecius.”

Virgo inhaled sharply as her friend left her side and stepped forward. He climbed onto the stool facing the rest of the school and pulled the Sorting Hat onto his head.

The hall was silent for the next minute, as the Sorting hat seemed to murmur in Caecius’ ear. Then, the Sorting Hat’s brim opened, and it proclaimed, “RAVENCLAW!”

The table to the left of the center exploded in cheers. Caecius hopped up from the stool, returned the hat to its perch, and joined the cheering table. The edge of his robes, Virgo noticed, had turned sapphire.

Ulrich Burke was next, and went quickly to Slytherin. Colin Creevey made the first Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff had to wait until Sullivan Fawley to gain a new member. Finally, Esmerelda Lufkin was sorted to Ravenclaw, and then McGonagall announced, “Malfoy, Virgo.”

She stepped forward, willing herself not to trip. Her hands were shaking as she raised the hat to sit on top of her hair. Immediately, the voice began its whisper.

“ _Another Malfoy, I see. Interesting, interesting. You have been taught ambition and cunning, and you undoubtedly have the blood. But your mind is sharp and curious, and you are certainly loyal. I think you could even be brave given the right motivation…”_

“Please, put me in Slytherin,” Virgo murmured, her eyes closed shut.

The hat chuckled in her ear. “ _Oh, Virgo, a true Slytherin would never need to beg_. _No, you’re here to learn, aren’t you? You’ll learn the most in—”_

“RAVENCLAW!”

Virgo’s heart sunk even as she walked towards the house where she had known she had belonged, to the house where her best friend sat, to the house where curious minds and wise hearts resided. She took a seat next to Esmerelda, across from Caecius, and tried to smile at the cheering students around her.

But as soon as it quieted, she looked over at the Slytherin table.

Draco was where she'd last seen him, half-way down, facing her, in between Pansy and Vincent. Modesty Osbert was being sorted, and Draco's eyes were focused on the sorting, but Virgo knew that Draco didn’t actually care where Modesty was sorted. His jaw was locked, an angry sneer across his face.

But moreover, he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some of you wanted Virgo to be in Slytherin, but I'm hoping that this result wasn't too surprising.
> 
> Also: since I won't be posting as frequently (see note last chapter), I decided to make an author tumblr so that you guys have the ability to confirm I'm still alive and writing/thinking about fandom. I haven't used tumblr in about five years but it seems like good exercise for musing. [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com)
> 
> Anonymous feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo's first week at Hogwarts doesn't go as she imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you prefer to turn off the custom formatting, you can just click the button "Hide Creator's Style" to return them to the default font.
> 
> Enjoy!

Virgo woke up to movement. For a moment, she thought it was Gilly or one of the other elves or maybe Draco, but then she remembered that she was at Hogwarts, sharing a room with four other girls. A girl named Claire Davies, a petite brunette with a pretty, heart-shaped face, was up and ambling around the dorm room. Virgo blinked blearily across the small room, watching as Claire sifted through her trunk. A couple of the other girls were also groaning and turning over, so Virgo surmised that she wasn’t the only one woken by Claire’s early rising.

After the Sorting had concluded the previous night, the house tables had immediately filled with dish after dish of delicious food, and the students had introduced themselves as they ate. Since Virgo was distracted by Draco’s behavior, she had allowed Caecius to speak for her, and he had easily disarmed the group of other first-years around them. Virgo had recognized many of the last names from her studies of British wizarding history, but none of the other first-year Ravenclaws had ever been invited to her family’s parties. At least Caecius was by her side to help her make new friends.

When the feast was over and Dumbledore had made his announcements, the Ravenclaw prefects gathered them and led them up the marble staircase in the entrance hall. Virgo had tried to memorize the twisting path up to the fifth floor, but she was distracted by all the portraits waving at her from all around. She had thought the Manor had a lot of portraits, but Hogwarts’ collection must triple their number.

When they were all breathing heavily, they halted at the lone door at the top of a spiral staircase. One of the prefects, Edmund Spiers, took hold of the knocker and rapped it against the wood. A melodic voice emitted from the knocker asking, “What is tall when it’s young, and short when it’s old?”

Edmund explained that instead of a password, Ravenclaw students would have to answer a question or riddle to gain entry to the common room. By the end of his explanation, a long line of the other Ravenclaw students had formed behind the first years, eager to get in. “A candle!” shouted several students impatiently, as if the answer were obvious.

Edmund sighed and repeated the guess for the knocker, and the door swung open.

The common room reminded Virgo a bit of her mother’s study—tall windows dotted the walls, looking out onto the grounds and mountains, and the ceiling was high, framed by rafters. The walls were covered in silks in Ravenclaw’s colors, making the room seem soft and calming. A door led off the common room to two staircases, which led to the boys’ and girls’ dormitory above.

By the time the girls were situated in their room, each having been assigned a bed at random, all of them were too exhausted by the excitement of the day to stay up and chat. Virgo quickly descended into her trunk and changed into her night robe and then collapsed into sleep in her bed.

Now that she was refreshed with rest, she lay staring up at the royal-blue canopy of her four-poster bed, thinking about the previous day’s events. Perhaps she had read too much into Draco’s behavior. He must have realized, like she did, that Ravenclaw was her probable house if the Sorting Hat didn’t listen to her request for Slytherin. He had certainly teased her for being a swot often enough. She would just have to find him sometime today and talk with him to make sure he wasn’t angry or disappointed with her.

Until she was able to talk to him, there was no use thinking about it—she had other things to do. She had sworn a promise to her mother that she would have to fulfill: informing her parents of her Sorting. With that in mind, she sighed and rolled out of bed.

Claire had finished dressing and had left the room, so the dorm was silent; although Virgo suspected the other girls were awake. In confirmation, when Virgo stood and stretched, Esmerelda Lufkin groaned and looked at her. “What time is it?”

Esmerelda’s hair, which had been long, straight, and shiny at dinner, had reverted to its natural tight curls during the night. It now formed a mane around Esmerelda’s head. Virgo wondered vaguely if she had used Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion to make it straight or a charm.

Virgo collected her watch—a birthday present from her father—from the bedside table. “Just past seven,” she murmured. “We don’t need to be down in the Great Hall to get our schedules until eight-thirty. You can go back to sleep if you like.”

Esmerelda sighed. “No, I better start getting ready. My hair takes forever.”

Virgo didn’t look up from where she had started packing her knapsack with textbooks. She was glad that her mother had bought one with a Feather-Light Charm embedded. Since she didn’t know her schedule yet, she had to stuff all her textbooks in the bag just in case.

“Would you lot shush?” Victoria Crowdy muttered from her bed. Esmerelda and Virgo exchanged looks. Apparently their dormmate wasn’t a morning person.

By the time Virgo had dressed in a clean Hogwarts robe, washed her face, and braided her hair, Victoria was the only girl still in bed. Esmerelda was stationed in front of the mirror dousing her locks in Sleekeazy’s, and Luna Lovegood was beside her, charming her naturally blonde bob different colors. Virgo left them to their primping.

The Ravenclaw common room was even more beautiful in the morning light. The mountains seemed to glow with sunlight, and the silks on the walls glittered. The two fifth-year prefects, Edmund and a thin girl named Penelope, were sitting on the couch closest to the door reading. Virgo wondered if they were purposefully posted there to ensure the first years didn’t get lost going down to breakfast.

Before they saw her, Virgo turned on a knut and started up the boys’ stairs. The door labeled _First Years_ was closed, but she could hear some chatter indicating that the boys were up. She knocked on the door.

When it swung open, it revealed a boy with curly red hair whose name she couldn’t remember. Turner? Tucker? Turndahl? It wasn’t a surname she had recognized, certainly. She wondered if he was muggle-born.

“Is Caecius up?” she asked.

The boy raised his eyebrows and turned. “Avery, your girlfriend is here,” he announced.

“She’s not my girlfriend, Turpin,” Caecius sighed as he came to the door. He was still in his night robe, and his hair was mussed with sleep, but he didn’t seem at all embarrassed by his appearance. “Morning, Virgo.”

Virgo smiled. “Interested in coming with me to find the owlery?”

Caecius’ eyes widened. “Oh, good idea. My cousins took out bets on what house I’d be in, and I’d really rather not get pelted with owls from them asking for the verdict…” He turned his back as he spoke, leaving the door wide open. Virgo stepped forward to lean against the frame. The boys’ room was identical to the girls' for the most part, except the window looked out over the roofline of the castle and to the forest beyond. It was also messier. It seemed that Aelius Gambol had emptied his entire trunk onto the floor around his bed.

“Oi! Close the door when we’re changing, mate!” A boy with a Scottish accent wailed. He was wearing what looked like muggle trousers made out of a thin, soft cotton and no shirt. Virgo rolled her eyes even as she blushed.

“I’ll wait for you in the common room, Caecius.”

Penelope had just finished giving directions to Virgo when he appeared a few minutes later, in his Hogwarts robe and running a hand through his hair. When he stopped in front of her, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Virgo grinned and reached up to muss his hair again.

“Oi!” he complained, straightening it again, even as his eyes glittered with mirth. Virgo chuckled and pulled him out of the common room door. She had long ago realized that there was little that could make Caecius truly mad.

“Penelope says that the owlery is at the top of West Tower, which is only accessible from the fourth floor. So, we’ll have to go down one flight and then back up again,” Virgo explained as they descended the spiral staircase.

Hogwarts looked different in the light of day. The torches were still lit, so as to keep even the inner hallways bright, but the sunshine filtering in from the many arched windows made the castle feel cheerier. Unlike the manor, the portraits had no shame about holding loud conversations with each other, giving Virgo and Caecius the impression that they were walking through crowded hallways even though they were the only students around.

“Any first reactions to the other girls?” Caecius asked Virgo as they walked.

Virgo hummed ambivalently. “Haven’t really talked to them much. Esmerelda seems nice enough—talkative, anyway, based on dinner last night. I don’t think I’ve heard Claire say a word at all other than her name.”

“You weren’t much better, last night,” Caecius pointed out.

Virgo gave him a look as they reached an archway that announced their entrance to West Tower and began to climb the stairs. “You know why,” she griped.

Caecius bumped shoulders with her gently. “Your family can’t be disappointed with your Sorting. Ravenclaw has turned out plenty of successful witches and wizards. Anyway, anyone who knows you at all could’ve guessed your house.”

“Ravenclaw hasn’t turned out any successful _Malfoys_ in three centuries, though,” she pointed out.

Caecius was silent for a moment. “Well, no use crying over spilt potion,” he said eventually. “They’ll just have to get used to it.”

They had reached the sixth floor of the tower, where the staircase tightened as it wound up the turret to the owlery. Virgo hoped that Aquila wasn’t out hunting still.

“Oh, Ms. Virgo!”

She and Caecius turned at her name, called by one of the portraits. It took a moment for Virgo to recognize her ancestor, Rutherford. She had forgotten his portrait was here.

“Oh, hello, Rutherford.” She hadn’t had many conversations with him before. His frame at the Manor was located right next to Nolita Malfoy, who rarely stopped speaking long enough to allow anyone else a chance to get a word in edgewise. As a result, most of the time that she passed his portrait it was empty.

“Don’t you think about passing by without an update, young mistress. I’ve had portraits calling out to me for the last hour from my other frame asking for the result of your Sorting.”

Virgo pulled up her robes so that he could see the band of blue. “Ravenclaw.”

Rutherford sighed. “Brutus will be intolerable when he finds out he was right.”

The idea that at least one of her family members—even one that had been dead for two and a half centuries—had anticipated her Sorting made Virgo feel better. “Make sure none of the other portraits tell Mother or Father; I’d like them to find out from me,” she requested.

Rutherford scoffed and straightened his robes. “Neither of your parents spend much time listening to the dithering of dead ancestors,” he argued. “But I will pass on the request all the same.”

Virgo thanked him and promised to visit him again in a few days to report on her classes before climbing the owlery stairs. The owlery was packed with birds, many of which seemed to have just returned from their nightly hunts, as they were picking apart their winnings from their roosts. Aquila seemed quite affronted to have her meal interrupted, but she still flew down when Virgo called, all the same.

It only took Virgo a minute to scratch out a short letter to her parents.

_2nd September, 1992_

_Mother and Father,_

_I have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Luckily, Caecius also sorted Ravenclaw, so I have a friend nearby. I recognize most of the surnames of my other classmates, but none are in our direct circles._

_I’ll write more soon._

_Virgo_

She read over the paragraph several times as Caecius penned his own letter to his family next to her. She imagined her father’s face as he read the result and she pictured him throwing the parchment aside in frustration. Impulsively, she added the following post-script.

_P.S. I did request Slytherin, but the Sorting Hat said I’d be more successful in Ravenclaw. I hope you agree._

Refusing to give the note any more thought, she wrapped the parchment into a tight scroll and handed it to Aquila. “Mother and Father,” she directed. Aquila clicked her beak twice as if to huff, but then sailed off into the sun.

Caecius had just finished attaching his own note to one of the school owl’s legs. He clapped his hands definitively. “What do you bet the chances are we get lost on the way down to breakfast?” he asked.

* * *

Virgo didn’t get a chance to talk to Draco at breakfast. By the time that she spotted him entering the hall, flanked by Greg and Vincent, Professor Flitwick was working his way down the Ravenclaw table, personally introducing himself to each of the new first-years. Virgo was particularly excited for Charms, and the only complaints Draco had relayed to her in regard to Professor Flitwick indicated that he was a fair but challenging teacher, so she took special care in smiling at him and introducing herself.

Then the mail was delivered, and Virgo’s eyes bulged as she watched the hundreds of owls which she had seen in the owlery swoop down to their owners to deliver letters and packages or simply beg for food. If that wasn’t exciting enough, suddenly a wall of sound blasted from the Gryffindor table behind her. A women’s voice was screaming from a smoking red letter, while the Weasley boy flushed darker than his hair.

“A howler,” Aelius Gambol explained knowledgably over the yells. “My dad’s best friend threatened to send me one once a week if I didn’t write. Knowing him, he would invent one that was even louder just for me.” Virgo figured that the man he was referring to must be Frankfurt Japes, the cofounder of Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop.

“What could that bloke have done to already get in trouble with his mum?” Esmerelda asked.

“You didn’t hear?” Jordan Turpin said around a bite of sausage. “Ron Weasley and Harry Potter flew to Hogwarts in a flying car. They crashed into one of the trees on the grounds. My sister told me last night—she’s in their year.”

“So that’s why they weren’t on the train,” Caecius mused to Virgo. “I guess they wanted to arrive in style.”

“There’s no rule that requires students to use the Hogwarts Express as transport,” Luna Lovegood said over a copy of _the Quibbler_. “I wanted to ride a thestral, but my dad said it was inhumane to take one away from their herd…”

From the confused faces around her, Virgo guessed that most of her peers didn’t know what a thestral was. She was familiar with the creatures, but she didn’t know why anyone would choose to ride an invisible animal of death. Clearly, Claire Davies was having the same reaction, as they met each other’s eyes and exchanged looks of bewilderment.

“You’re telling me I could have come directly here?” said the boy who had shouted at Caecius for leaving the door open this morning. When Virgo elbowed Caecius discretely, he whispered that his name was Liam Jamison. “I live just two hours from here, and instead my parents had to book me a flight down to London just to take the train back.”

“Book a flight?” Aelius repeated. “You flew a broom all the way to London?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Not a broom—an airplane. I’m muggle-born, so it’s not like my parents could ‘magic’ me to London or whatever.”

By some mysterious signal, the rest of the Great Hall started packing up their belongings in unison, in preparation for the first class of the day. Virgo gulped down the rest of her tea as she followed suit. The Ravenclaw first-years followed the crowd heading back into the entrance hall, listening vaguely as Liam explained to Justin Jones what an airplane was.

Their first class of the day was Transfiguration, which was located in a sunny first-floor classroom looking out towards the Quidditch pitch. When the Ravenclaws arrived, the Slytherin first-years, with whom they shared the class, were already present. The chairs were arranged two to a table, but Abilene was alone at her table at the front of the classroom, while Lindsay Travers and Tara Shafiq chattered and giggled three desks away.

Virgo and Caecius exchanged looks, before Caecius sighed and nodded Virgo towards Abilene while he instead took the open seat next to Justin Jones.

“Morning, Abilene,” Virgo greeted as she plopped down in the empty seat. Virgo noted to herself that she would have to research a hair-cleaning charm, because Abilene’s already thin hair hung even more limply against her robes today.

Abilene looked up, surprised, from the Transfiguration textbook she was hunched over. “Oh, hello, Virgo.” She looked around the classroom, taking in all the students. Caecius waved from his desk, and her tan cheeks reddened slightly.

Professor McGonagall swept into the classroom only a minute later, instantly taking charge and beginning a lecture on introductory Transfiguration. Abilene took notes ferociously next to Virgo, barely looking up from her parchment, while Virgo struggled to keep up. It was strange being only one of over twenty students. Adrianna and her other tutors hardly ever lectured, and if they did, they were accustomed to being interrupted by Virgo’s questions. Here, students were only allowed to speak if they raised their hand first, a blunder that cost Virgo two points from Ravenclaw fifteen minutes into the lesson.

Despite Abilene’s eager note-taking, half-way through the class, when McGonagall slowed her lecture and began quizzing the class on topics from the first few chapters of their text, Virgo’s Slytherin classmate ripped off a piece of parchment from her scroll and slid it across the desk to her.

_Are you happy with your Sorting?_

Virgo kept one eye on McGonagall as she scribbled a response.

_No use complaining now. You?_

Abilene bit her lip, her quill hovering over the parchment.

_I must admit, I had hoped you or Caecius would be with me._

_Us, too. You’re welcome to visit us in Ravenclaw._

Abilene did not respond, but her shoulders were slightly less hunched when she returned her attention to McGonagall.

After Transfiguration was History of Magic, which dashed Virgo’s hopes of being an interesting lecture after only a few minutes of Professor Binns’ droning. Caecius ended up challenging her to several games of hangman just to get through the class period without falling asleep.

All in all, by the time lunch rolled around, Virgo was in a bit of a funk. She had been excited for Hogwarts in large part because of so many new classes and professors, but it seemed that Draco had not exaggerated about the dullness of the classes. She kept this thought in mind as an olive branch for when she saw him, if she needed one. Draco always appreciated being told he was right.

She once again thought how lucky she was to have such a good friend in Caecius, because when she saw Draco, Greg, and Vincent get up from lunch early, Caecius allowed her to pull him after them fairly easily, although he swiped a pear to eat on the way. They found the three second-year boys in the courtyard after only a few minutes of wandering. Despite the cloudy weather, the courtyard was filled with students.

Virgo groaned inwardly as she spotted her brother. She would have to wait to speak to him, because he was busy at the moment: loudly taunting Potter and Weasley, who were accompanied by a first-year Gryffindor whose name Virgo thought she remembered being Colin.

“Be careful, Weasley,” Draco was jeering. “You don’t want to start any trouble or your mummy’ll have to come and take you away from school. ‘ _If you put another toe out of line’—”_

Caecius grumbled indistinctly next to Virgo. She didn’t have to hear what he said to know what he was thinking. She realized her best friend didn’t like her brother, but she knew that Draco would never pass up an opportunity to wield his words in front of an audience. He must be overjoyed, at the moment; a group of upper-years were laughing along with his taunts.

When Weasley pulled his wand on Draco a moment later, Virgo stepped forward as if to intervene, but Caecius pulled her back, and it took a second for her to see why. Gilderoy Lockhart was strutting into the courtyard. At the sight of the professor, Draco, Greg, and Vincent disappeared into the crowd, and didn’t heed Virgo’s call.

“Come on,” Caecius muttered, as Virgo considered chasing after them. “It will take a while to find the Astronomy classroom, we better get going.”

* * *

Over the next few days, Virgo realized that Draco had an advantage in his quest to avoid her: he knew the castle much better than she did. It seemed that anytime she caught sight of her brother, he somehow disappeared through doors she swore hadn’t been there a moment before, down hallways that she couldn’t see, and up staircases that moved to new locations after he boarded them.

By the Thursday of their first week, Virgo was undeniably grumpy, and this time when she took her seat next to Abilene in Transfiguration, Abilene took one look at her and scrawled _What’s gotten your wand in a twist?_ at the corner of her notes.

Virgo just shook her head and sighed.

In addition to the stress of being avoided by her favorite human being in the world, Aquila had returned the second day of class with a letter clasped in her talons, and a small package of biscuits tied to her leg. Virgo recognized her mother’s script immediately.

_3rd September, 1992_

_Virgo,_

_I must confess that I am unsurprised by the result of your Sorting, although I had certainly hoped that you would be in Slytherin, surrounded by more like-minded families. I am happy that at least Caecius is with you._

_Your father has asked me to remind you of your promise to be discrete with family secrets, and to choose your friends wisely. He estimates that it is smarter for you to be accompanied by people of our own blood this year. Please heed his warnings._

_I hope you enjoy the biscuits. I know they are your favorite._

_Mother_

While the tone of her mother’s letter was largely kind, and Virgo devoured the chocolate biscuits with white chocolate chips and pecans, she could not help but read into her father’s refusal to pen his demands himself. It was just like her family to have all individually suspected that she would be sorted into Ravenclaw, but for none of them to have spoken about it or approve.

Virgo was in an admittedly foul mood at the end of the school day on Friday, after an abysmal second class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. The first class had been wasted taking a pop quiz on the complete collection of Lockhart’s books. That had already cheesed her off, as apparently Lockhart expected everyone to have already read all seven books, cover-to-cover, but she became further incredulous when she realized the quiz did not cover any of the sparse educational content in the books, but instead facts about Lockhart himself. The second class was hardly better, as Lockhart spent the entirety of the period bragging about how many duels that he had won by simply having better posture.

Caecius took one look at her face after class and rolled his eyes. “Look, it’s the weekend—just go find Draco, alright? I can’t take any more of your moaning and groaning.” It seemed that even Caecius had a limit to what he could put up with, especially in regard to moping over a boy he hated.

Virgo huffed, but admitted that it really wasn’t a bad idea, and set off towards the dungeons. Worst case, she would simply stake out the dungeon corridor until dinner. Even though she didn’t know exactly where the Slytherin common room was, she knew Draco would have to pass by her in order to get to the Great Hall to eat.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to resort to such dire measures. By the time that she had stopped by the library (checking the desks for her brother in the off-chance he had suddenly become studious) and was making her way down the marble staircase, she found two familiar faces coming towards her.

“Oh, Virgo, thank Salazar,” Vincent groaned as he spotted her. “We thought we’d have to get someone to point us to your common room.”

“You’re our only hope,” Greg commented from next to his friend. Virgo frowned.

“What’s the matter? Is Draco alright?”

“If by alright, you mean being even more of a prat than normal,” Vince quipped. “Sure, he’s alright.”

“He’s been in one of his moods since your Sorting,” Greg explained morosely. “And we know you’ve been trying to speak with him, but—”

“—he’s too much of a coward to actually talk to you,” Vincent grumbled. “He’s dragged us all over the castle to avoid you this week, and we can’t take it anymore. Even the other Slytherins have noticed how foul of a mood he’s been in. He almost challenged Bletchley to a duel the other day, just because he was being a bit loud in the common room.”

“We had to tell him we were going to try to find the kitchens to find a snack, so that we could get away after class,” Greg told Virgo.

“I wasn’t completely lying about that,” Vince murmured. “It would be nice not to have to wait until mealtimes every time I get hungry.”

“What are you saying?” Virgo asked. “You’ll make him talk to me?”

“ _Make_ him?” Vince repeated. “No, are you mad? People think we’re dumb, but we’re not _that_ dumb.”

“We’re just going to give you the Slytherin password, so you can corner him.”

“And don’t think we’re doing this lightly, Malfoy,” Vincent lectured. Virgo tried to hide her smile at having a boy she had known since she was two call her by her surname. “If this doesn’t work, and the rest of Slytherin gets angry at us for giving a Ravenclaw the password, I won’t hesitate to beat up a girl.”

Greg wrinkled his nose and shrugged. “I would never beat you up, Virgo,” he promised. “We think the other Slytherins will overlook the treason if it gets Draco to stop jumping down people’s throats all the time.”

“ _Goyle_ ,” Vincent groaned. He had clearly hoped for a united front. Virgo laughed and prompted the boys to lead the way back down to the dungeons. Unfortunately, they were interrupted pretty much immediately as the doors to the grounds opened and three people stepped inside.

“Oi, is having bodyguards’ tradition in the Malfoy family?” Ron Weasley quipped as he saw Virgo, Vincent, and Greg. “I mean, I knew your brother and father were cowards, but I guess it really does run in your family.”

Virgo’s blood boiled. Without thinking, she pulled out her wand, pointing it confidently at Weasley. Potter and Granger both tensed but didn’t draw their own. Based on Granger’s rolling eyes, she thought Weasley could extricate himself from his own mess.

“Vince and Greg are my _friends_ , you prat,” she hissed. “If you’d like to see how much of a coward I am, say something else against my family.”

Ron looked slightly less confident in face of the wand pointed at him, but he still forced a laugh. “You’re a first-year, and a girl. Am I supposed to be scared?”

Virgo bristled at the sexism, but she caught sight of the similarly insulted expression on Granger’s face and had an idea. She pocketed her wand.

“Shall I tell your sister Ginny you said that? For a _first-year girl_ , she’s vaguely terrifying.” The Ravenclaws shared Herbology with the Gryffindors, and Ginny had almost gotten into a fist fight with Aelius when she spotted him mocking Colin Creevey behind his back.

Weasley’s face paled abruptly, and Granger apparently could no longer contain herself, as she burst into snickers. Once she controlled herself, she grabbed the sleeve of Weasley’s robe and started to pull him up the stairs. “Honestly, you deserved that,” Virgo could hear her muttering as they ascended the marble staircase. Potter followed them, shaking his head.

“Maybe we should keep you around,” Vince commented as they descended into the dungeons. “Draco has never managed to make Weasley look so afraid.”

The walk to the Slytherin common room was longer than Virgo expected. She hadn’t realized that the dungeon corridor continued so far past the Potions classroom, especially as there was so few rooms visible off the hallway there. When Crabbe and Goyle eventually stopped at a blank stretch of wall, the only thing marking the spot was a lone double torch on the opposite side.

“ _Ad altiora tendo_ ,” Goyle mumbled. Part of the stone wall swung open, revealing the entrance to the common room. Virgo had heard about the Slytherin common room from countless family members, but nothing could have truly prepared her for the eeriness of the green tinged light or the portholes looking into the depths of the lake. The common room was crowded with students relaxing after their first week, and many of them visibly startled as they caught sight of her. Virgo tensed for the ensuing argument, but then—

“Oh, thank _Merlin_.”

The nearest bunch of highbacked chairs was occupied by second-year girls and Blaise. Pansy was the one who had spoken.

“He’s been completely wretched all week,” she explained as she tossed the copy of _Witch Weekly_ she was reading down and stood. “We’d all appreciate it if you could talk some sense into your brother.”

Pansy spoke in a carrying voice, which had the bittersweet consequence of drawing everyone’s attention to the newcomer and informing them of Virgo's mission. In the end, all the nearby Slytherins seemed to judge that it was more favorable for them to let Virgo be. She wondered just how annoying Draco could have been in the last five days to warrant such measures.

“He’s up in the dorm— _brooding_ ,” Zabini called from his chair. “I’d really appreciate it if I could go into the dorm room sometime this year without having to deal with your sibling drama.”

“Come on,” Vince muttered, pulling on Virgo’s arm. He led her down a hallway to the left. They walked past a bathroom and a dorm room from which Virgo could hear Burke and Harper’s voices, before stopping at a closed door. The plaque on the wall next to it read:

**_V. Crabbe_  
_G. Goyle_  
_D. Malfoy_  
_T. Nott_  
_B. Zabini_**

“We’ll make sure nobody interrupts you,” Greg promised. “Just… please fix it, alright, Virgo?”

Virgo sighed. She couldn’t make any promises.

The dorm room was dark; the only light came from the windows into the lake. Five beds stood in a row against the outer wall. Draco lay on the one the furthest to the right.

He looked up when she clicked the door shut, jerking into a seated position when he recognized her. “How did you get in here?”

She knew Vince and Greg probably expected her to lie or obfuscate but, well, she wasn’t a Slytherin for a reason. “Vince and Greg gave me the password.”

Draco snorted and looked out the window. He was silent for several beats, his jaw locked. Then he sighed and looked at his hands. “Do you… do you want to go for a fly or something?”

“Sure,” Virgo said immediately. Draco nodded, without looking at her, and opened his trunk to retrieve his Nimbus Two Thousand and One. When he closed his trunk and still had tension written across his face, she thought better of it. “Wait! Aren’t we going to talk about it, first?”

“Talk about what?” Draco met her eyes in challenge.

“My Sorting.”

Draco scoffed violently and turned away from her. When he turned back after several beats, he had a determined expression. “Look, I know I’m supposed to be a _good brother_ and say it’s fine and that you deserve to have your own friends and put them first and I’ll always be there but—but you made your choice, and every time I think about it, I just feel—I feel like a bloody idiot, alright?”

Virgo’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, my choice? It was the Sorting Hat!”

“Yeah, right,” Draco hissed. “You said you’d ask for Slytherin—Daphne said the Sorting Hat takes your preferences into consideration. And yeah, maybe you thought you’d choose Slytherin before, but then when _Avery_ was sorted Ravenclaw, oh, of course you’d choose—”

“You absolute prat!” Virgo stepped forward and shoved one of Draco’s shoulders so that he stumbled back into his bed frame. “How did I get such an idiot for a brother? I—”

“Sorry we can’t all be _Ravenclaws_ , Virgo,” Draco hissed. “I didn’t realize you thought so little of—”

“ _I asked for Slytherin, you idiot!_ ”

Draco trailed off. “What?”

“You really think I’d _ever_ trade you over for Caecius? Trade all the people I grew up with, Abilene, Lindsay, Daphne, hell, even Pansy, for Caecius, whom I could be friends with no matter my house? Trade in the Malfoy legacy? Trade in—trade in—”

She couldn’t make herself say _trade in being able to walk to your bed in the middle of the night_ , so she just trailed off.

“I asked the Sorting Hat for Slytherin. I _pleaded_. And all the Sorting Hat said was—was that a real Slytherin would never have to beg.”

Draco sat back down on his bed, deflated. “Oh.”

Virgo’s anger returned. “Yeah, _oh_.”

“Well, what was I supposed to think?”

“You were _supposed_ to think that you had promised me I wouldn’t lose you, that I wouldn’t abandon you without cause, that I love you more than anyone else in the world—”

“For now,” Draco scoffed. His cheeks reddened slightly in the glow of the lake.

Virgo softened. She swallowed and then walked forward to sit next to him and curl around his torso. “No, not for now,” she answered, mouth pressed against the shoulder of his robe. Draco’s arms twisted around her to hold her snug against his side. “For ever and ever, no one could ever supplant you.”

She felt him squeeze her tighter and press his nose into her hair. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. She turned her head so that her voice was no longer muffled by the fabric of his robe. “That’s why I called you an idiot. Because it’s absolutely idiotic to think that anyone could ever come close.”

She heard Draco snort from above her. They stayed there, wrapped in each other for several long minutes before either of them spoke again. “You wouldn’t believe the mood I was in all week, thinking you’d picked Avery over me.”

“Yeah, basically your whole house told me,” Virgo murmured. “You need to be extra pleasant for a while so that all the Slytherins forgive Vince and Greg for giving me the password.”

“Please, after I make the team at tryouts tomorrow and Father gifts everyone Nimbuses, they’ll do anything for me.”

Virgo extricated herself partially from his hold to look at him. “Tryouts?”

He blushed. “Yeah, well, a certain Ravenclaw pointed out that people would respect me more if I made the team of my own volition…”

Virgo grinned. Draco smiled down at her from inches away. Held this close, in the silent bedroom by their lonesome, Virgo ached to kiss him.

“I’m proud of you, Draco,” she murmured instead. “And I know you’ll make the team.”

“Thanks, Virgo,” he sighed. “But I wasn’t kidding when I suggested flying earlier. I wouldn’t mind a bit more practice before tryouts tomorrow afternoon. Even on a school broom, you’re better competition than most.”

“Sure,” Virgo acquiesced. She’d do just about anything Draco wanted if she could just spend more time with him.

Draco collected his broom and opened the door to the hallway. Vince and Greg were slumped against the wall a few feet away but straightened abruptly when they spotted Draco.

Draco stopped in front of them, smirking. “And to think, I had really hoped that you would be able to find the kitchens,” he sighed. “Ah, well. A task for another day.” He slung an arm around Virgo’s shoulders and pulled her close. “See you two at dinner. My sister and I are going flying.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit that this last scene was one of my favorite scenes so far to write, oh boy do I love these two. I hope you liked it!
> 
> Reminder that you can find me on tumblr at [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com)!
> 
> Want to give quick feedback on this chapter? Feedback form [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A interesting research question changes the route of Virgo's weekend.

For the first time since she had arrived at Hogwarts, Friday evening Virgo fell asleep quickly. Her body was tired from the flying session with Draco earlier that day, and she’d been filled with a certain serenity since their reconciliation.

When she woke up the next morning to Claire’s puttering around, for once she didn’t close her curtains and roll over like she and the other girls had grown accustomed to doing. Instead, she stretched and sat up. “Claire,” she whispered.

Claire looked up from packing her bag with a shuttered expression. She seemed to expect to be told off for making noise.

“Where are you going?”

Claire frowned, glancing at the other beds. Esmerelda and Luna were both still knocked out, and Victoria’s curtains were closed. “The library,” she answered softly. “Hardly anyone is there this early.”

Virgo’s interest was piqued. “Can I come?” She’d been so focused on speaking to her brother this week, she hadn’t yet gotten a chance to explore the stacks.

A small smile passed over Claire’s face, and she nodded shyly. Virgo rushed to change and pack her bag.

Breakfast wouldn’t be served for another hour, so they headed directly to the library. Madam Pince was just unlocking the doors when they got there, but she looked unsurprised to see Claire. “Good morning, Miss Davies,” the librarian greeted monotonously. Her eyes seemed to inspect Virgo and come away wanting, as she swept away to her desk without a word of introduction to the blonde.

Claire made a beeline for a table in the back corner. It was hidden from the rest of the library by the potions section, but still had a view outside, overlooking the Quidditch pitch. Virgo dropped her bag into the chair opposite Claire and looked out the window. The light was still sparse, as it was just past six in the morning, but there were a few figures crossing the Quidditch pitch on foot. From here, Virgo could barely see that they were clad in Gryffindor colors. She had forgotten; Draco had told her that since Gryffindor retained all its players from last year, they didn’t need to hold tryouts and instead would start up practices earlier than the rest of the houses.

She briefly contemplated abandoning Claire to spy on the Gryffindor team’s practice for Draco, but resisted. Snape had already assigned an essay on stirring techniques, and Professor Flitwick had said that they would begin learning the locking and unlocking charms next week, so Virgo wanted to read up on the spells again. Not to mention that she had been itching to reread parts of _Hogwarts, A History_ , now that she was actually at school.

The only words that Claire and Virgo exchanged for the next two hours were quiet requests for each other’s textbooks and queries about assignments. Still, both girls seemed to enjoy the company, as whenever Virgo met Claire’s eyes, they exchanged small smiles.

The library remained quite empty, as undoubtedly most students were taking advantage of the weekend to have a lie-in and not think about the homework assigned the previous week. Still, a couple hours after they got there, voices approached from behind the stacks.

“Come on, Hermione, it’s _Saturday_ ,” a male voice groaned.

“Look how empty the library is, Ron, you’ll get more done today than trying to finish everything tomorrow in the common room like you usually do. Besides, Harry won’t be done with practice for—Oh, hello.”

Virgo and Claire both looked up. Weasley and Granger had rounded the corner to stop in front of their table. Clearly, Granger was used to sitting at their table, as she looked quite confused to find someone occupying it.

Weasley grimaced as he spotted Virgo, and she tried to imitate one of Draco’s best sneers in response. Surprisingly, Granger just gave Virgo a small smile before pulling Weasley away to a table further along.

Claire shot Virgo a questioning look. Virgo just shrugged and returned to her studying.

Unfortunately, while Granger was undoubtedly of the same mind as the two Ravenclaws studying quietly, Weasley couldn’t stop moaning and groaning and asking his friend questions in a carrying voice. Therefore, after only about twenty minutes, Claire sighed and closed her textbook. “Breakfast?” she asked.

Virgo closed her copy of _Magical Draughts and Potions_ and began packing up.

It was interesting spending time alone with Claire. Virgo realized that even though Claire had been quiet most of the last week, the brunette was actually quite talkative once she got going. On the way to the Great Hall, Claire went on a long rant about the indignity of learning History of Magic from a professor who seemed unaware of time passing at all, which Virgo found quite amusing. Still, the entirety of the rant was made in a voice just louder than a whisper, and once they sat down at the Ravenclaw table across from Caecius and Liam, Claire went silent yet again.

Caecius laughed with a knowing smile when he heard that the girls had already been in the library that morning. Still, Virgo noticed that he also had his book bag with him, but she refrained from teasing him for wanting to get a jump on homework as well. Liam quickly vetoed any discussion of classes, and instead began joyfully telling Claire and Virgo about the game of Gobstones he witnessed between Aelius and Jordan the night before, which ended with Jordan completely covered in the fouling smelling Gobsauce. Even Virgo, who was familiar with the game, found Liam’s retelling very entertaining.

“Morning, Claireybeary,” a loud, boisterous voice called from behind Virgo. She jumped, looking around for the culprit. An older boy with coiffed brown hair and a mischievous smile plopped down on the bench next to Claire, straddling the wood. “You going to come to Quidditch tryouts, Claire? Support your dear brother?”

“Why would I ever do that, Roger?” Claire scoffed in a surprisingly loud voice. “I don’t care about Quidditch, and I certainly don’t care about you.”

Roger clutched his chest as if wounded. “Claire, you don’t mean that. Let’s ask your friends—I’m sure Claire can’t stop talking about her handsome, talented, smart older brother, right?”

Virgo and Caecius exchanged glances. To say that Claire couldn’t stop talking would be an exaggeration no matter the subject matter, but neither of them were aware that Claire had an older brother.

Caecius cleared his throat. “What position do you play, Roger?” he asked, sidestepping the question neatly.

Claire groaned. “Don’t get him started,” she whined. “He only recently stopped bragging about winning the Quidditch cup last year, even though the only reason Ravenclaw won was that Harry Potter was in the hospital wing and—"

The rest of Claire’s sentence was cut off, as Roger had clasped a hand over his sister’s mouth. “Don’t listen to her,” Roger said, as he fought off Claire’s shoving and writhing to escape. “She’s just jealous because she’s never been good on a broom.”

Claire finally ripped her head away from him and pushed him hard enough that Roger’s elbow collided with a pitcher of pumpkin juice. Roger looked unperturbed at this show of aggression, and calmly pulled out his wand to clean up the spill.

“I am not!” Claire argued passionately. “You’ll see when I beat all of your first-year marks at the end of the year, I don’t need a stupid _broomstick_ to be good at something.”

Roger only laughed. “Good luck with that, Claireybeary. You’ll likely have to be top of your year to beat my marks.” He began to get up, immune to the waves of frustration and anger rolling off his younger sister. “If the rest of you would like to come watch Ravenclaw tryouts, we’ll be on the pitch at four this afternoon. First years can’t try out, of course, but it’ll still be fun to watch.”

Virgo furrowed her brow as a question began to needle the way into her brain. Her fingers twitched to dig out her research journal, but she made herself wait until after breakfast to fall through the portkey.[1]

While Roger walked off to rejoin his friends at the other end of the table, Liam looked after him. “I might take him up on that,” he commented idly. “No matter how many people describe Quidditch to me, I don’t really get it. I’d like to see it in person.”

Claire groaned loudly, and Caecius deftly changed the subject.

* * *

After breakfast, Claire declined to return to the library with Virgo. Her brother’s visit to their table left Claire in a simmering state of rage, and the dark look in her eyes when she stomped away from them to return to Ravenclaw tower worried Virgo slightly. Liam announced he was going to go for a walk around the lake, but Caecius accompanied Virgo back to the library.

The table that Claire and Virgo had sat at earlier was now occupied by Granger, whose redheaded friend had abandoned her. Virgo and Caecius plopped down at a table a few over instead, and Virgo immediately dug out her research journal.

She had to flip rapidly in order to get to a clean page, as she had used quite a bit of the journal in the last nine months, but eventually she found where she had left off and scribbled:

_What rules exist regarding first years trying out for a Hogwarts Quidditch team?_

Instantly, ink welled up to respond underneath the query.

**Suggested Reading:** _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Student Handbook, 117th edition._

Madam Pince looked quite distrustful when Virgo asked for help finding the Student Handbook, but she did show her to the reference section and point out the tome when asked. She did not, of course, help Virgo carry the hefty book back to her table.

Caecius startled when the book slammed down on the wood. When he saw the title, he rolled his eyes. “Virgo, I know you didn’t like McGonagall taking points from you, but I promise that you do not need to read that thing to learn Hogwarts’ rules.”

Virgo gave Caecius a look. Okay, she might have complained a _bit_ about not being told that she had to raise her hand before speaking in class, but she wasn’t interested in following all the rules. Sure, the idea that few people had ever actually read this book cover-to-cover filled her with an insane curiosity to do so, but that didn’t make her a goody-two-shoes. That just made her a Ravenclaw.

“Ha. Ha,” she deadpanned. “No. Look.” She spun her research journal around and pointed at her latest query. “I realized at breakfast—why was Potter allowed to play on Gryffindor’s team last year if first-years aren’t allowed to tryout? There must be some loophole—it seems like too blatant favoritism otherwise.”

Caecius’ eyes widened as he took in the words. “You’re _not_ thinking of…”

Virgo shrugged. “The bulletin board in the common room said there was a Chaser spot open.”

Her friend let out a delighted chuckle. “If this works…”

“Are you going to help me research or not?”

Caecius snorted. “Shove over,” he said as he pulled his chair closer to Virgo and the book. “Flip to the index, will you? If we’re going to build our case, we’re going to have to be meticulous—know every single even slightly relevant rule. I’ll make a list of topics… let’s see, Quidditch, of course, Broomsticks, First-Years, Tryouts…”

Virgo grinned, flipping the pages hurriedly.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon by the time that they felt that they had an air-tight argument, and both their stomachs had started grumbling hungrily two hours before. Still, the pair was running off pure excitement now.

“I think we’re ready,” Caecius announced breathlessly.

“I know,” Virgo sighed. “What do we do? Go to the tryout and present it to the captain? Or Flitwick? Or Dumbledore?”

Caecius frowned. “There’s a chance that the captain might still be unsure, without a teacher’s approval. You think it’s worth bothering Dumbledore with this? I don’t know where his office is, mind you.”

Virgo bit her lip. “Flitwick, then?”

“Flitwick. Let’s go.”

They took turns lugging the book up to the seventh floor towards Flitwick’s office. Somewhere around the fourth floor, Virgo began fretting whether the professor would even be in his office on a weekend, but she needn’t have worried. When they arrived panting, his door was open, and Flitwick was sitting at his desk grading.

“Ms. Malfoy, Mr. Avery, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Caecius and Virgo were both silent for a moment. Then, Caecius elbowed her in the side and Virgo stepped forward. “Professor, well, we… we’d like to try out for the Quidditch team.”

Caecius cleared his throat significantly.

“Well, _I’d_ like to try out for the Quidditch team. Caecius wants to wait until the Seeker position is open to try out.”

For such a short man, Flitwick was quite good at giving the impression that he was looking down at her. “You are aware, of course, that first-years aren’t allowed to try out for the Quidditch team?”

“That’s just it, Professor, there’s no rule that says so,” Caecius exclaimed. Either he was overcome by enthusiasm, or he had tired of holding the handbook, because he slammed it down on Flitwick’s desk. Virgo passed Flitwick the parchments with their arguments. He began flipping through them.

“There’s only a rule that first-years aren’t allowed to bring their own broom to Hogwarts, which apparently everyone has always taken to mean that first-years aren’t supposed to try-out. But of course, first-years are allowed access to the school brooms. So, we’re proposing that we—I mean I—be allowed to try out on a school broom.”

Flitwick looked intrigued. “And are you further proposing that if you were to make the team, that you would play on a school broom?”

Caecius and Virgo exchanged looks. “Well, that’s where the rules get a little fuzzy, Professor,” Caecius explained. “Because while there’s a rule that first-years aren’t allowed their own broomsticks, previous exceptions have been made for first-years that make their house team. Precedent would argue that Virgo should be allowed to receive her own broom from home.”

Flitwick hummed. “I admit, it is interesting, and your argument is thorough. Still, I should probably check with the other heads of house to confirm that they will allow it.”

Virgo opened her mouth to speak, but for once she bit her tongue before she said something too abrupt. She mentally rephrased. “Professor… Didn’t the Gryffindors have a first-year player last year? Sure, he didn’t try out, but he played, and he got his own broom. You’re not really going to let the _Gryffindors_ be the only ones to take advantage of the loophole, when we’re the ones who did the research?”

Professor Flitwick slowly began to smile, and the twinkle in his eyes was just short of devious. “I suppose you’re right, Ms. Malfoy. By all accounts, Ravenclaws have largely written the rules, upheld the rules, and known the rules. We might as well take advantage of our knowledge when we can.”

Caecius cheered, but Virgo was more uncertain. “Are you saying…”

“Yes, Ms. Malfoy, you may try out on a school broom. I’ll meet you down at the pitch at four so I can inform Mr. Troy of my decision.” He took out a pocket watch. “In fact, you better hurry to change into your Quidditch gear if you are going to be punctual.”

Virgo couldn’t hold back her grin. “Thank you, Professor!”

“Yes, thank you,” Caecius echoed. “Come on, Virgo!”

He started to pull her out of the room, but they were called back to retrieve the Hogwarts handbook by Flitwick, who seemed quite amused by their exuberance.

“You go get your gear,” Caecius commanded once they were rushing down the stairs with the handbook between them. “I’ll take the book back to the library. And Virgo?”

They had reached the landing of the fifth floor, where Virgo would have to part from him to get to Ravenclaw tower. She looked at him expectantly.

“You’re going to be great,” he promised. “You’re a better flier than I’ve ever seen, and your shots are deceptively hard.”

Virgo smiled appreciatively. “I wish you were trying out with me.”

He shrugged. “Next year, maybe. I’ll see you afterwards, alright?”

“Yeah. Hey, Caecius? I’m really glad we’re friends.”

Caecius grinned. “Me too, Virgo. Now would you go? You’re going to be late.”

Virgo laughed and sped off in the other direction.

By the time she had changed and made it to the pitch with one of the school brooms, the minute hand on her watch was hovering just left of the twelve, and the braid she had put her hair in earlier had come completely undone. She thought about stopping to fix it, but then she spotted the large group of students in the middle of the pitch and figured she had more important things to think about.

“There she is!” Flitwick called out. Virgo hadn’t spotted him at first glance, since the group of students blocked his small form. “Ms. Malfoy, I was just explaining to everyone the results of your fascinating investigation.”

Virgo’s face reddened as so many eyes turned on her. She recognized a few people: Claire’s brother, of course, and a pretty girl of Chinese descent that she’d run into in the bathroom before, and one of Draco’s classmates named Anthony Goldstein. Still, the vast majority of the group was unfamiliar.

The stocky boy holding a Beater club eyed her warily. “We won’t go easy on you, just because you’re small,” he warned in an Irish accent.

“The advantage of being small,” Virgo explained, “is that I’m harder to hit. Smaller target, you know. Feel free to give me all you’ve got.”

The boy grinned and then turned back to the rest of the students. “Well, it’s four o’clock, we might as well get started. Alright, listen up, everyone. I’m Dillon Troy, Ravenclaw’s captain. Today we only are looking to fill one Chaser spot and one Beater spot, so if you’re not interested in those positions, you’d best clear out now.”

He introduced the current Ravenclaw players, who would be helping with tryouts. Dillon was a Beater; Roger and a fourth-year boy named Randolph Burrow were Chasers; a tall, reedy boy named Grant Page was the Keeper; and Virgo learned that the girl she had recognized was named Cho Chang and played Seeker.

Troy began the tryouts with an obstacle course to demonstrate flying ability. Virgo suddenly wished that she and Caecius had finished researching just a half of an hour earlier, so that she could have warmed up first. At least she had gotten some practice on a school broom yesterday with Draco, or else she would have been really nervous.

Four flyers took to the obstacle course at a time to demonstrate a bit of their physicality on a broom. Virgo was placed into the second heat with Anthony Goldstein and two other boys, all of whom outsized her by at least six inches and two stone. Luckily, she was used to playing against boys who were bigger than her. She used it to her advantage. Her light weight allowed the ancient school broom to keep up with the newer ones, and the boys seemed quite flustered when she aggressively took the curves, as they had to slow to keep from crashing into her.

Still, the last straight stretch allowed the largest boy to pass her, as the newest Comet easily outstripped Virgo’s Shooting Star. She just hoped that Troy would recognize that her flying ability, whether or not she had the best broom.

After the rest of the students also finished the obstacle course, Troy separated the candidates by position, and began running some elementary passing drills with the other Chasers. Virgo realized that the boy that had beaten her in the obstacle course race was trying out for Beater, and she breathed more easily.

As much as Virgo was confident in her passing and catching abilities, her empty stomach and nerves were catching up with her, and she found herself fumbling some throws that she should have easily made. She ached for the easy thrill of backyard Quidditch games with Draco, Caecius, and the other children they had played with over the years. All the other candidates also seemed affected by their own anxiety, as hardly anyone spoke other than to call for the Quaffle, and the silence was exhausting.

Finally, Troy announced that they would release the Bludgers and begin a six versus six scrimmage, each side sans Seeker. Virgo was teamed up with Goldstein and a girl named Marietta as a Chaser line. They all lined up outside the inner circle and prepared for the balls to be released. Virgo’s stomach seemed to gnaw on itself, and her heart was beating rapidly. Then Troy blew his whistle and threw the Quaffle in the air.

Somehow, Virgo managed to get to the Quaffle first, and the boy across from her hesitated as she seized it out of the air. She took advantage of his hesitation and rolled her broom under him, efficiently darting away from him and down the pitch. Anthony had managed to follow her down the pitch, so when a player blocked her, she was able to chuck him the Quaffle and get them into scoring position.

It had been so long since she’d played in a proper scrimmage. With so many things to concentrate on—all the players, the speed, the Bludgers—she was able to forget her anxiety and just play. She had no extra brain capacity to wonder how she was playing, or stress about the throws that wobbled slightly or the shots that were saved, and instead she could only rejoice when their team pushed ahead or kick herself when she was almost taken out of the air by a ferociously hit Bludger.

Before she knew it, Dillon was calling all the players down and telling them that the tryouts were completed. She and Anthony high-fived, since they’d finished the scrimmage winning. Marietta, on the other hand, was nursing a hurt arm, as she had gotten clipped by a Bludger near the end and seemed unable to rejoice through the pain.

Troy gathered the returning players into a huddle to discuss. Virgo looked around. The sun was much lower than it had been when they’d started, and she wondered how much time had gone by. Her hands were covered in dirt from where the Quaffle had collected some mud when it had fallen to the pitch, and she was sure that she would have some bruises on her arms from where she’d collided with some of the other players as they’d fought for the Quaffle. The other students around her looked similarly worse for wear, faces red with exertion, and their hair mussed by the wind.

“Alright, I’d like to speak to a few of you individually. Goldstein, Knatchbull, Inglebee, Malfoy, stick around. The rest of you can head out. Thank you for your hard work today; please try out again next year.”

Anthony and she grinned at each other as the rest of the students that had tried out for Chasers sighed and groaned amongst themselves. This was it—either Anthony or she would be the new Ravenclaw Chaser—Knatchbull and Inglebee had both tried out for Beater.

Troy called Knatchbull up first, and spoke to him in an undertone. Knatchbull’s face didn’t give much indication of Troy's decision, as he was only nodding along to Dillon’s speech. After a moment, Dillon seemed to finish what he was saying, and Knatchbull shook his hand and walked off the pitch.

When Troy called Inglebee up, the assignment of Beater became clearer. Inglebee, the boy who had beaten Virgo in the obstacle course, cheered rowdily and held up his broom in victory. Anthony and Virgo both chuckled and congratulated him while he also walked off.

“Goldstein, you’re up.”

Anthony walked forward. Virgo gnawed her lip. At least being one of the final two must mean that Troy was impressed by her. Even if Anthony had scored more goals during the scrimmage, even if he was chosen, maybe she’d make the team next year. She just didn’t know how she’d tell Draco that she had figured out a way to try out, but hadn’t made the team.

“Congratulations.”

Virgo zoned back into Goldstein and Troy. Anthony was grinning, looking at her. “Reserve Chaser isn’t bad at all,” he said, holding out his hand to her to shake. “I’ll take anything that will get me in the air. Anyway, you were the better flier today.”

“Wha—What?” Virgo stuttered, looking past him towards Troy.

Dillon Troy smiled. “Congratulations, Malfoy. You’re Ravenclaw’s newest Chaser.”

Virgo choked. Her legs suddenly felt weak. “No way,” she breathed.

Troy and Goldstein both laughed. “If that’s what you can do on a fifty-year old broom, I can’t wait to see what you’ll do on a better one,” Dillon continued. “I mean, of course, there’s some things that we can certainly work on, and you can’t always depend on the other Chasers to underestimate you because of your size, but it was certainly a great showing.”

“Thank—thank you,” Virgo blushed. “When do practices start?”

“Later this week,” Troy explained. “Tony will be practicing with us—we had too many injuries last year to risk our reserve players not being match-ready. I’ll let you both know when I book the pitch.”

“Brilliant,” Goldstein grinned. “Come on, Virgo, I think I see some people waiting for us.”

Virgo looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, coming down from the stands were Caecius, Liam, and Esmerelda, accompanied by Terry Boot and a boy she didn’t know.

Caecius didn’t even let her tell him the result before he swept her into a hug. “You flew great!” he cheered. “Some of those dodges were incredible—your feints are getting so much better.”

“I made the team!” Virgo exploded. She heard Anthony explaining to his friends about the reserve spot.

“No way!” Esmerelda exclaimed. “Oh, I’m so bloody jealous!”

“Great job,” Liam said. “I think you’re bonkers, flipping around on a broomstick like that, but it was definitely impressive.”

“Brill flying,” Terry complimented, as Anthony finished speaking to his friends. “But, I already knew you were a great flyer.”

“Thank you. Why didn’t you try out? I seem to remember you being a ruddy good Chaser as well.”

Terry laughed. “Nah, I just like Quidditch for a spot of fun, I’m not serious about it.”

“You know each other?” Anthony asked, as the seven of them began walking back to the castle.

“Yeah, Virgo was at the first-year send-off that the Parkinson’s threw last year, being Draco’s sister. We were on the same team during the ensuing Quidditch match.”

“Which we won, of course,” Virgo made sure to add.

Anthony turned to Virgo with shock. “I should have realized—you're Draco's sister?”

Virgo eyed him warily. Ah, yes, she should have expected that would draw a reaction from second-years. “Yes.”

But Goldstein didn’t react as she expected, and instead cheered. “Oh, I’ve been wanting a new broom!” Terry and the other boy laughed.

“What are you on about?” Esmerelda asked, echoing Virgo’s own thoughts.

“We ran into your brother on the way to tryouts,” Terry explained, with a slightly dark look. “He was bragging about how your father was going to reward him for making the Slytherin team by buying all its players Nimbus Two-Thousand and Ones. Well, now that you’ve made the Ravenclaw team, your dad will do the same for you, won’t he?”

But Virgo didn’t care about Terry’s query. “Draco made the team?” She breathed.

Caecius groaned. “Oh, now you’ve gone and done it,” he muttered. Virgo elbowed him lightly, but she was grinning out of pride for her brother. “I knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate once you told her.”

Virgo blushed slightly. “I need to go congratulate him! I’ll see you guys at dinner.”

“Congratulate _him_ ; what about you?” Esmerelda called after her, but Virgo was already running away from them towards the castle.

The trip up to Ravenclaw tower was quicker than ever before, as Virgo hardly slowed her run until she had reached the eagle knocker. Thankfully, a group of third year girls were just giving their answer to the knocker when she walked up, so she didn’t need to spend time figuring out the riddle. She showered and dressed in new robes in record time before running back down the six flights to the dungeons.

She knew she was likely red-faced despite the shower by the time she arrived at the double torch that marked the Slytherin common room, but she couldn’t care less. “ _Ad altiora tendo_ ,” she wheezed at the wall.

The stones swung open, and sound burst into the hallway. The Slytherin common room was packed with people, many of whom who were crowded in a circle around one armchair. From the armchair came a familiar voice.

“Well, of course, Father wanted to support Slytherin in any way he could—he was simply _aghast_ when the House Cup was taken from us last year. He wanted to give the team Nimbuses whether or not I made the team, but of course, I said, ‘No, Father, the Gryffindors will think I _bought_ my way onto the team…’”

Virgo couldn’t help the grin that stretched across her face. She wound her way through the few groups of students who were actually studying to wiggle her way into the circle. Sure enough, at the center was Draco, still in his Quidditch leathers and holding court for seemingly the entirety of the Slytherin Quidditch team, the other second-years, and a variety of other students.

Still, when he saw her, his face broke out into a wide grin.

“I just heard!” Virgo cheered. The crowd seemed to part for her, so that she was able to fling herself into Draco’s lap to hug him. A second after she did, Virgo belatedly wondered if this was inappropriate or abnormal behavior for two siblings, but she felt Draco’s arms tighten around her just as enthusiastically and put it out of her mind. Still, when he released her, she perched herself on the arm of his chair, instead of sitting in his lap like she would’ve once done.

“Where were you?” he asked vehemently, although he was still smiling. “I thought you’d come to watch.”

“I was in the library all day,” Virgo explained. “Sorry. I did want to watch.”

Draco snorted. “Should’ve known. Researching anything interesting?”

Virgo’s empty stomach flipped. She couldn’t tell him what she had actually spent the day doing—not when he was fresh off his own victory, not in front of so many onlookers.

“Some. I’ll tell you later,” she said instead. “Tell me about tryouts.”

It didn’t escape Virgo’s notice that once Draco turned his attention to her, retelling every second of the Slytherin tryouts, that the group began to dwindle, going off to dinner or taking out their textbooks. Virgo knew how much Draco liked an audience, but he didn’t seem to care about losing his listeners, and instead he hardly looked away from her eyes for the next hour.

Sitting there in the Slytherin common room, with their focus on each other, Virgo felt that this was almost like the Hogwarts she had imagined.

* * *

Footnotes:

  1. Not sure if it’s obvious, but “fall through the portkey” is supposed to imitate the idiom “fall down the rabbit hole,” because of course wizards wouldn’t be familiar with Alice in Wonderland. Back to Story



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know there was hardly any Draco/Virgo interaction in this chapter but I will make it up to you all in the next chapter! So much world building so little time etc etc
> 
> Tumblr: [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com)
> 
> Feedback form [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9)


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts' rumor mill is faster than Virgo anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, click on the button that says "Hide Creator's Style" to change the letters back to normal formatting. Enjoy!

Growing up as a Malfoy, Virgo was accustomed to a certain amount of attention. Whether in the muggle world, in Diagon Alley, or at a party, people stared at her family—jealous, or curious, or incensed, they stared.

They stared, but they rarely spoke to Virgo directly. She curtseyed, her mother boasted, her father negotiated, and then the socializing was done.

It was strange to have so many people—strangers, up until now, coming up to her and engaging her in conversation. When she returned to the Ravenclaw common room Saturday night, it seemed that the entirety of her house was eager to be her friend.

“It’ll be so nice to have another girl on the team,” Cho Chang said.

“How did you know to check the Hogwarts Handbook?” asked Penelope Clearwater, the fifth-year prefect. “Most people don’t even know we have one.”

“What broom do you have at home?” Michael Corner, the boy who had been with Terry and Anthony earlier, wanted to know.

“I can’t believe Caecius didn’t take the chance to try out,” Aelius whined.

“I know,” Esmerelda boomed. “I would have surely taken his spot.”

“My brother’s going to be so jealous when he finds out,” Victoria commented, whose twin was in Gryffindor.

“Well, if I had to lose out the spot to a first-year, I’m glad they won it in a way that makes me proud to be a Ravenclaw,” Eddie Carmichael boomed. He had also tried out for Chaser.

“Yeah, Malfoy, if you find out any more rule loopholes, be sure to share with the whole house,” Marcus Belby teased.

“You should have seen that handbook,” Caecius explained to the small crowd that was loitering around the first-years. Virgo thought he must be taking pity on her, as her cheeks had been perpetually rosy since she came back to the common room after dinner. “Must have weighed as much as you, Belby. No way am I reading through that to find any more loopholes.”

“Ho, ho, the first-year’s got jokes,” Belby commented as his friends laughed and jeered. Belby, who was tall and broad-shouldered, was nonetheless quite fit, so he didn’t actually seem insulted by Caecius’ joke.

Finally, the crowd thinned, and Virgo was able to relax more into her armchair and focus on the game Liam had brought from home. He said it was called “backgammon,” and he was currently teaching Justin and Jordan the rules.

Caecius and Aelius were laughing with Terry, Michael, and Anthony, as they compared Lockhart to last year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirrell, who seemed equally dreadful, if in entirely different ways. With Caecius occupied by the second years, the other boys immersed in their game, and Victoria and Esmerelda talking Cho’s ear off, Virgo decided to slip away up to the dorm.

Luna looked up when Virgo entered the dorm. The other girl was lying horizontally across her bed, so that her head drooped off the side. Her face was slightly red from the blood rushing to it. Still, Luna seemed utterly unphased, looping her wand through the air as it emitted pink and purple sparks. Virgo considered asking her what she was doing, but resisted, as she had fallen victim to Luna’s strange lectures on creatures that Virgo had never heard of, and never knew how to respond.

“Where’s Claire?” she asked instead.

Luna did not pause her wand waving. “Not here,” she answered pleasantly, as if that was all the information Virgo needed.

Virgo closed her eyes to prevent her dormmate from seeing them rolling.

She found Claire (without Luna’s help) in the dormitory bathroom. The room was empty save for Claire, brushing her hair carefully, as it was still early on a Saturday night. Virgo found that an early night sounded quite appealing after the excitement of the day and took out her wand to begin casting teeth cleaning charms.

“Are you planning on going to the library again tomorrow morning?” she asked Claire after she had swished water around her mouth.

“Same as every morning,” Claire grumbled. Virgo frowned.

“Would it be alright if I came again?” Virgo asked. She had assumed after this morning that she would have an open invitation, but, judging from her tone, perhaps Claire liked studying by herself more.

Claire made a face into the mirror. “I’m surprised you’d want to, now that you’ve got a direct line to Roger. No need for me anymore.”

Virgo’s brow furrowed. “What are you on about?”

Claire turned, her mouth downturned despite the fire in her eyes. “Well, that’s why you hung out with me, isn’t it? To have an in with my brother? Now that you’re on the team, you’ll see him plenty.”

“Why would I care about your brother?”

The fire receded from Claire’s eyes, as she now mirrored Virgo’s confusion. “All the other girls do. Every friend I’ve ever had has fancied him.”

Virgo hoped she wasn’t blushing. Now that she thought about it, she supposed Roger was attractive, if one liked older boys that were smart and talented and… not related to her. As it was, she didn’t see the appeal. “Well, I don’t.” Claire still looked a bit uncertain, so she continued, “He’s not even that great of a flyer. A bit of a Quaffle-hog, really.”

Claire snorted, and then hid her smile as she turned back to the mirror. “Don’t let him hear that. He’ll think I poisoned you against him. And Mum and Dad’ll believe him.”

Virgo turned back to her own reflection as well. She wondered if the enmity between Claire and Roger was normal for siblings. She’d never be a good enough actor for that.

“You’re welcome to join me in the library tomorrow,” Claire continued, collecting her soap and wand to turn back to the dorm room. “As long as you refrain from any Quidditch talk, you’re always welcome.”

* * *

When Virgo woke the next morning to Claire’s shuffling, she resisted turning over to go back to sleep. Six o’clock in the morning felt much earlier today than it had the day before. Still, she wanted to keep her word, so she dragged her body out of bed and collected her things.

She was thankful that she had gotten so much practice braiding her hair, as she was able to tie her hair back without the help of a mirror as they walked in silence down to the library. By the time they had seated themselves at the same table as the morning before, Virgo was feeling slightly more awake.

They worked in silence as the sun rose higher in the sky and students slowly began to fill the library’s tables. Virgo was just finishing her potions essay when someone approached their table.

“Is it alright if I join?”

Virgo looked up. Abilene’s steady gaze appeared to be on Virgo, but Virgo could tell she was actually watching Claire’s reaction. Claire looked at Virgo for an answer.

“Abilene, hi.” She noticed that Abilene had tied her hair back from her face today, which emphasized the striking angles of her face and hid the limpness of her hair. Virgo approved. “Claire, Abilene; Abilene, Claire.”

“Hello,” Claire murmured quietly. Her hazel eyes were focused on Abilene, her expression timid.

Abilene didn’t respond, except to flick her eyes across Claire’s face, around the table where her books were spread out, and over her weekend clothes. Virgo nudged Abilene’s knee under the table.

“Hi,” Abilene said at last, seemingly unphased by Virgo’s prodding. She turned back to Virgo. “Is that for Potions? Mind if I look it over?”

“If I can look over your Transfiguration notes?” Virgo bartered as she handed over the scroll of parchment. As Abilene dug out her notes, Virgo noticed Claire was still watching the Slytherin, mouth slightly ajar and expression quizzical. Virgo didn’t think that Claire was the type to bully, but a fierce protectiveness overcame her anyway. When Claire caught Virgo watching, she returned her eyes to her History of Magic textbook silently.

Abilene read over Virgo’s potions essay without comment, humming quietly in spots. After a few minutes, she took out her own essay, filled with her minute scrawl, and began crossing out portions.

“There’s a spell for that,” Claire declared. Abilene and Virgo looked at her. She gestured at Abilene’s corrections. “ _Tabulamuto_. I’ve heard that Snape takes off points for messy edits.”

Abilene looked suspicious but took out her wand nonetheless and murmured the spell as she tapped the parchment. The words she crossed out disappeared, as if the ink had just sunk into the page. Her mouth quirked up slightly, but she continued without comment. Virgo smiled at Claire.

“So, I suppose I should congratulate you,” Abilene murmured after a minute. Virgo wasn’t sure to whom she was speaking until Abilene looked up to meet her eyes. “I heard about you making the Quidditch team. I don’t much care for Quidditch, of course, but Lindsay seemed quite impressed.”

“How did Lindsay find out?” If Lindsay Travers knew, there was a chance that Draco also knew, which Virgo had not anticipated. She thought she’d be able to tell him herself.

Abilene shrugged one shoulder as she returned to her editing. “Don’t know. I only overheard the second half of her conversation with Zara, but I heard enough to get the gist. I had wondered what you and Caecius were researching all day in here yesterday.”

“How did you know we were researching all day?”

Abilene blinked at Virgo. “I saw you.”

“Were you with someone?”

Abilene furrowed her brow. “Of course not.”

“Then why didn’t you come sit with us?”

“I didn’t know if I would be welcome. I know you prefer Caecius’ company to mine, even if you sit with me in Transfiguration.”

Virgo sighed. “Friendship isn’t a competition, Abilene.”

Claire cleared her throat. Virgo hadn’t realized she’d been listening. “You and Caecius _can_ be quite… intimidating,” she enunciated carefully.

“What? How?”

Claire fiddled with her quill. “Well, most of us didn’t know anyone before school. You and Caecius were already friends. It’s like a club we’ll never be part of.”

Virgo frowned and resolved to talk to Caecius about this conversation as soon as possible. Then she wondered if that proved Claire and Abilene’s point.

“We’d both go mental if we were each other’s only friend,” she said instead. “And you should know that Caecius likes spending time with you just as much as I do,” she added to Abilene.

“Okay,” Abilene replied, but it sounded suspiciously like she was humoring Virgo. “I’ll come sit with you next time I see you two together. Now, can you explain to me Flitwick's lecture on wand movements?”

* * *

Virgo realized at breakfast an hour later that she had clearly underestimated the sheer speed of Hogwarts’ rumor mill. When the three girls walked into the Great Hall, she had the distinct impression that the whispers grew louder, and people at the other house tables were looking at her. She supposed that the only reason she’d be of note was for Quidditch.

She scanned the Slytherin table. Draco was not present yet, so perhaps he had not heard. She would have to find him as soon as possible.

When the owls arrived with the post, though, she realized it was much worse than she’d thought. She had not just underestimated _Hogwarts’_ gossip dissemination, she had underestimated the speed of gossip in the wizarding world at large, as Archimedes swooped down to her with two letters in his talons.

_7 th September, 1992_

_Virgo,_

_Imagine my surprise when no less than six of the eleven other School Governors wrote me last night to congratulate me on having such a talented, intrepid, conscientious daughter. Imagine my discomfort at having to admit that I had no idea what they were talking about. Imagine my shock that a mere week after leaving for Hogwarts, you have found a way to embarrass me in front of some of the people whose influence I need most in the coming months._

_I have to believe that a Ravenclaw would not forget my warnings only a week gone, my request that you put the reputation of this family before your own desires or whims. How do you think it looks that, hours after promising to buy the Slytherin team all new brooms, that my daughter makes the Ravenclaw team with no such promise? How is your brother’s position as seeker supposed to earn the respect that he deserves with a younger sister gaining more notoriety? How am I supposed to have faith that you will follow directions designed to keep you and Draco safe and successful if you follow such capricious fancies?_

_You will not be receiving a Nimbus Two Thousand and One like your brother, and I suggest that you come up with a believable story to repeat to all who ask after it that does not shed any negative light on this family, or you will find yourself flying a school broom for the rest of the year._

_Your father,_

_Lucius Malfoy_

_7 th September, 1992_

_Darling,_

_Congratulations. Please inform me in the future of any plots and/or achievements as soon as possible, as your father does not do well with surprises._

_I would also ask that you tell your brother where the Hogwarts Handbook is kept, as I believe he could do with a reading._

_Mother_

Virgo didn’t have much time to process these letters, as she had just finished reading her mother’s letter when a hand wrapped around her forearm and tugged.

“Come on, Virgo,” Draco grumbled, as he grabbed her bookbag and tossed it over his shoulder. “I need to talk to you. _Privately_.”

Virgo’s stomach fell. So, he had heard. She barely remembered to gather her parents' letters before Draco began pulling with real intent, and she was forced to follow him out of the hall.

He did not drop her arm nor speak until he had pulled her into a small chamber off the entrance hall. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to try to try out for the Quidditch team?” he exploded once the door was closed behind them. Virgo didn’t like the distance he put between them.

“I wasn’t going to! I didn’t even think of the idea until yesterday morning.”

Draco scoffed. “Virgo, you like Quidditch more than just about anyone else I know, you can’t actually expect me to believe that you didn’t think of trying out before yesterday.”

She could feel her face reddening. It did sound suspicious when he put it like that. “I mean, of course I _thought_ about it, I daydreamed about it, I definitely planned to try out next year, you know that, but I thought it was against the rules.”

“And then you just miraculously had a brainstorm yesterday, the day of try outs?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Virgo pleaded. “Look, I can prove it. Give me my bag.” Once she retrieved her knapsack from his shoulder, she took out her research journal and flipped to the most recent page. “I mean, it doesn’t have a date, or anything, but look, I’ve only asked one question since then.”

Draco took the journal from her, and flipped a few pages back, likely to check if she had just repeated the question recently. Virgo bit her lip, trying to remember what questions she had asked in that span. Most questions she wrote in the research journal were inconsequential, but some shed light onto more private thoughts.

After a minute, he closed the journal and handed it back to her. “This still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me last night. You never keep secrets from me, Virgo. How do you think I looked when Flint asked me about your tryout last night after dinner and I didn’t know anything about it?”

Virgo frowned and looked at her feet. “You were so proud of yourself for making the team. I didn’t want to… to take away from your moment. Not in front of everyone. I thought I’d have time to tell you today…in private.”

His face softened slightly. “It could have been _our_ moment, though,” he murmured.

His words made her stomach swoop, even though she knew he was lying. Sure, she didn’t actually have experience with stealing the spotlight from him, as she had always avoided it, so she didn’t know for sure how he would have reacted. But she knew how he would have reacted in the same way that she knew that he didn’t like Brussel sprouts or that he sometimes wished for darker hair or that he secretly thought about being a Curse Breaker. It wasn’t knowledge—it was just a sixth sense for all things Draco, constructed on eleven years of experience and study.

She stepped forward, placatingly, grasping his forearms in her hands. “I do like the sound of that. What would our moment have been like?”

Draco frowned, but he seemed calmer. His hands grasped her elbows idly, closing out the rest of the world from their circle. “I would have bragged that all our flying together must have paid off, to have two siblings make the team so young.”

Virgo smiled. “You mean you’d use my making the team to brag more about yourself?” she teased. Draco rolled his eyes, but his steady gaze was warm now. “What else?”

“I would have said that this would show Potter that he wasn’t special. That Dumbledore must be so mad that you figured out the loophole; that with your rule knowledge and Father as a school governor, the Malfoys would be changing things this year. No more Gryffindor favoritism.”

Virgo laughed, but looked down. Draco’s words reminded her of their father’s letter. “Father doesn’t see it that way. He said I’m an embarrassment.”

Draco frowned. “He said what?” Virgo sighed and broke their hold on each other to pull the letters out of her robe pocket. She waited while Draco scanned their parents’ words. “He did not, Virgo. He said you embarrassed him, not that you’re an embarrassment.”

“Not much of a difference.”

Draco sighed. Virgo kicked herself for bringing up their father. Not only had she popped the bubble around the two of them, the one that blocked out the rest of the world when she was with him, but she knew that this was the one topic that they decidedly didn’t agree on. “Of course, there is. And he’s got a point. If you had told him—just like if you’d told me—he could have made the best of it. But when you keep secrets, and he finds out afterwards, he looks stupid.”

“You keep secrets from him all the time.”

“Yeah, well, I got the welts on my bum to show for it. You got off quite easily, if this letter is all the punishment you get. And Mother didn’t even sound mad at all.”

Virgo smirked as she remembered her mother’s last words. Draco rolled his eyes.

“Don’t say it. I can’t believe she’d say that—I haven’t even broken that many rules. _One_ detention last year, and I swear I’ll never stop hearing about it.”

She giggled. “Well, if you get in trouble this year, maybe I’ll be able to find you a loophole in the rules to get out of any more detentions. The Forbidden Forest, honestly. What Dumbledore was thinking…”

Draco grinned, and she knew they were okay. He hooked an arm around her shoulders, guiding her back towards the door. “Come on, I took you away from breakfast. How do you feel about sitting at the Slytherin table today? I want to properly show off my Quidditch star sister.”

* * *

Despite the rocky nature of her first week at Hogwarts, the next several weeks flew by in relative peace. Virgo and Draco began to find a rhythm that kept them as close as ever despite their different houses. Bolstered by their father’s gift to the Slytherin Quidditch team, they continued to flout the Slytherins-only rule of the dungeon common room without complaint from the rest of the Slytherins, although Flint did draw a line at letting Virgo eavesdrop on any Quidditch strategy discussions. Draco joined her in the library a couple times a week to help Virgo with her potions’ homework, and even kept quiet when Caecius tagged along. And every Friday afternoon they spent wandering the castle, attempting to find more hidden rooms and secret passageways.

On one such Friday at the beginning of October, they had stopped on the sixth floor, tired from so much walking. Draco and Virgo sat facing each other on a window ledge, their legs sandwiched together across the stone.

On the other side of the glass, rain was pouring from the sky. The last month had been decidedly grey, which made Quidditch practices and trips to the greenhouses for Herbology less than enjoyable. Virgo had also underestimated just how cold Hogwarts castle could get as the seasons changed; she had assumed growing up in Malfoy Manor would prepare her for the chill. Across from her, Draco seemed unaffected as he continued to read one of Lockhart’s books with his sleeves rolled up.

“Merlin, I can’t take any more of this tosh,” Draco grumbled over _Year with the Yeti_. “How did Dumbledore think this moron was legitimate?”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Virgo murmured, nudging her toes closer to Draco as she wrapped her fingers in the fabric of her robes. “Rutherford said that Hogwarts hasn’t been able to keep a Defense professor for longer than a year for the last fifteen years. Perhaps Lockhart is the best Dumbledore could find.”

Draco looked up with a frown to, undoubtedly, question her and her half-hearted defense of the headmaster, but got distracted by her huddled figure. “You’re cold? You should’ve said.”

He looked up and down the deserted corridor, and Virgo wondered what he was planning until he turned back to her and held his hands out. She placed her own in his and felt the warming charm on his rings stretch to incorporate her hands as well as his own.

“Better?” he confirmed, rubbing her fingers idly in his own. She shivered slightly as his thumb caressed the sensitive skin of her palm, but it wasn’t from the cold.

Virgo nodded, too afraid to speak for fear that she’d reveal more than she intended. Luckily, Draco didn’t seem to notice, because they sat like that for the next thirty minutes, curled up hand in hand, until Penelope and one of the older Weasley boys walked past and forced them to drop their hold.

* * *

After so many years of having a suite of rooms to herself, Virgo was surprised to find that she had adjusted fairly well to sharing a small room with four other girls and a bathroom with over thirty. She had gotten used to bumping into older girls in the bathroom in the middle of the night, to having to wait for a shower on busy mornings, to waking up to Victoria’s snores or Claire’s early mornings, to having to change in her trunk. She had even started to wonder how she could have fallen to sleep all her life without the sound of other people breathing or the distant noises of the castle’s other occupants.

There _was_ one thing that she missed. And she missed it particularly badly after cozy afternoons curled up with Draco, thinking about what he would do if she just crawled into his lap.

She hadn't played with herself since getting to Hogwarts. All the girls had curtains around their bed for privacy, but that did nothing to hide _sounds_. She knew from experience that she sometimes got… a little loud. And sure, she had read about silencing charms and imperturbable charms, but those were both advanced spells that she had no chance of mastering in her first year.

It was the second weekend in October before the dorm room was empty, her dormmates were all occupied elsewhere, and Virgo was in the mood for a particular brand of pleasure. She jumped at the chance.

Just in case, she closed her curtains, planning idly that if anyone did walk in on her, she would hopefully hear them coming and be able to pretend that she was napping. Once she was hidden, she kicked her covers down and pulled off her robe.

Even the sensation of the sheets against her naked skin felt naughty, and Virgo could feel herself growing wet between her legs. She stretched back on her bed and pulled her knees up and open, imagining showing her body off to Draco. He’d lick his lips, ask her to touch herself for him…

She thought her breasts had grown more in the last few months. Stretched out naked, she felt older, more womanly, sexier. She brushed her hands over her skin and nipples. Rubbing her nipples made her moan and shiver, so she started to pinch them between her fingers.

Pretty soon, her skin started to grow hot and the skin between her legs seemed to hum. She resisted just rubbing her fingers over her nub like she had so many times before, or even pushing two fingers inside herself and pretending they were Draco’s. No, she might not have been able to touch herself for the last month, but she had been planning for this in her down time.

She rolled over and reached into the drawer built into the bedframe and retrieved her hairbrush. A gift from her mother, it was luxurious, carved out of moonstone. She hoped her mother never found out what she had done with it.

Although silencing charms and imperturbable charms were advanced, a hardening charm and smoothing charm were only intermediate magic, and Virgo thought she had done a nice job on them. Now, the handle of the brush was perfectly smooth and unlikely to break. She was excited just looking at it.

She startled when the stone handle touched her wet skin. The stone felt colder than she expected. She wished she knew a warming charm, but this would have to do.

The stone handle slid into her easily enough, but the cold made her tense up instinctively, and the month of neglect made her vagina feel tighter around it. She lay waiting for a moment, as the stone absorbed her body heat. Then she grasped the head of the brush and began to move it carefully in and out.

Her breath caught at the movement. It didn’t have the same lightning shock of pleasure that rubbing the nub had, but thrusting the hairbrush in and out was addictive. The sound of stone against her slick skin gave her equal thrill and embarrassment. She was so wet, just over the idea of being able to push something into her. Just over the idea that her vagina could now accommodate something as big as a penis.

Experimenting, she adjusted the angle of the hairbrush slightly, and she groaned when it added a whole new layer of pleasure to the action. Her head had fallen back against her pillow involuntarily, her mouth agape as she began to thrust the hairbrush faster and faster.

Her forearm was beginning to ache with effort, but she ignored it, unwilling to stop. She had been caressing her nipples idly as she thrust the hairbrush, but now, as if intoxicated, she pulled apart the skin around her nub and began to rub.

She gasped. The combined action of the thrusting and the rubbing seemed to amplify each other, so that she was hardly sure where the pleasure was coming from anymore. It felt so good, and it was only getting better. She knew that the explosion would set a new record.

She was thrusting the hairbrush into herself with such force now that it would have frightened her if it didn’t feel so _amazing_. Her thrusts were out of rhythm, unable to keep up with the effort, but any movement at all was addictive. She could feel the break coming, but it seemed to teeter just out of reach for several long moments as she savored the soft pleasure on the way up.

And then the wave of pleasure hit, knocking her out of her mind. She could hear herself screaming and groaning, but unlike previous times, the pleasure just kept coming. She thrust the hairbrush frantically, every drag emphasizing the quaking of her inner walls.

She lay twitching against the sheets afterwards, the hairbrush still inside her. She felt sensitive still, the warm stone giving her flashes of lightning as it shifted inside her.

She could hear girls in the hallway outside the room, and she felt a vague sort of embarrassment, covered up by the aftershocks of the pleasure. Awareness of the outside world began to filter back to her slowly, and she sighed, resigning herself to getting dressed again and going back to the normal weekend activities.

But when she started to pull the hairbrush out of herself, the tension was back once again. She twisted the hairbrush inside herself and contemplated.

One more time wouldn’t hurt, right?

She didn't leave her bed for a long time that afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr at [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Want to give some quick anonymous feedback on this chapter? Form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo is growing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder that the "Hide Creator's Style" button turns off the custom formatting if you prefer to read without it!

Virgo was in Potions the next day when she noticed it. Her short stature required her to stand to see into her cauldron, where her Forgetfulness Potion was simmering away. Therefore, she felt something wet trickling down between her legs immediately, rather than having it soak into her robe.

She froze. Caecius, who was sharing a desk with her, looked over at her quizzically, but she ignored him. She didn’t think she had to go to the bathroom, so she couldn’t have peed herself, could she? And she wasn’t thinking about sex, so she didn’t think it was the normal wetness.

Whatever it was had started dripping down the inside of her thigh. She shifted awkwardly, looking at the recipe in front of her. There was no way that Snape would allow her to use the bathroom right now; she had to add her mistletoe powder in the next few minutes or her potion would be ruined.

By the time that she had turned in her completed potion and Professor Snape had released the class, Virgo had worked herself into a slight panic. She had come to the conclusion that whatever substance that was between her legs must be dripping from her vagina, and she knew it must not be normal. Her thighs were tacky with it, and pretty soon she worried that it would drip down to her calves. She hoped to Merlin, Rowena, and whoever was listening that there wouldn’t be a puddle underneath where she was standing.

When the Ravenclaws began to parade from the dungeons up to Astronomy, Esmerelda fell into step next to Virgo, and complained about the way Snape scolded her for forgetting to remove the stems from the mistletoe. Usually, Virgo would find Esmerelda’s boisterous storytelling quite amusing, but she could only nod and make vague noises of approval as she vented.

After they had started up the stairs to Astronomy, Virgo took her chance and broke away from the group on the second floor. Several of her housemates called after her.

“You’ll be late!” Caecius warned. It was true; the trek up to the Astronomy tower from the dungeons left no time for side trips.

“We won’t wait for you!” Esmerelda called, teasing. “You’ll have to face Sinistra on your own.”

Virgo waved them off and hurried into the bathroom. She almost crashed into Ginny Weasley, who was leaving the lavatory, but was glad to see that the room was otherwise empty. She quickly locked herself into a stall and pulled up her robes.

She was bleeding.

Her heart dropped. After the extended session with her hairbrush the day before, a small trickle of shame had burrowed inside her, but now outright fear took over. Had she hurt herself? Broken something? She didn’t feel any pain,except a small discomfort that she had thought was indigestion, but the blood didn’t lie.

She wadded up some toilet paper and tried to clean up the mess on her thighs the best she could, but they remained looking like the scene of a crime.

As she was doing that, the bell rang, sealing her fate to lose points from her house. She sat on the toilet, contemplating, as the water below her got redder and redder. It didn’t seem to be stopping. She must have done something _really_ serious to herself.

She was just considering whether she could come up with a believable lie for Madam Pomfrey in regard to what had penetrated her vagina, when she realized that the bathroom was not, in fact, empty. A luminescent girl was floating halfway through the door to the stall, looking with glee at the red water.

“That doesn’t look good,” the ghost declared with amusement. “How much blood can you lose before you bleed out, do you think? You can share my bathroom when you die.”

“Get _out!_ ” Virgo shrieked. She wasn’t scared of ghosts; everyone knew they were harmless, but most ghosts at least respected the privacy of the living.

She could hear the ghost giggling on the other side of the divider. Indignation sizzled inside her, but she also wondered if the ghost was right. What if she _was_ dying? The bleeding wasn’t stopping.

She’d be damned if she’d die in a _toilet_ with this cackling ghost as company.

Resolved, she stood and adjusted her robes. She was glad, at least, that Hogwarts robes were black. Blood stains didn’t show in the fabric.

The ghost was still giggling as Virgo exited the stall and washed her hands. Thankfully, she didn’t follow Virgo into the corridor. Virgo vowed to herself that if she didn’t die, she would look up a spell to expel ghosts from her vicinity.

The hospital wing was close by, so Virgo thankfully didn’t run into anyone. When she pulled open one of the large double doors, she was similarly thankful to see that there was only one other patient: a boy sleeping in the bed furthest from the doors. Madam Pomfrey looked up from stocking her potion cabinet when Virgo entered.

“Hello,” Madam Pomfrey greeted, closing the doors to the cabinet and meeting Virgo halfway across the room. “You’re a new one, aren’t you? What’s your name?”

“Virgo,” Virgo answered. “Virgo Malfoy.”

She appreciated that Madam Pomfrey didn’t seem to blink an eye at her last name. It would make things even worse if she had to reveal what she had done to someone who already had prejudice against her family.

“Nice to meet you, Virgo. I’m Madam Pomfrey. What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m bleeding,” Virgo explained timidly. She blinked away tears. It was just so _stupid_ of her to hurt herself in this way. She took a deep breath. “I’m bleeding… down here.”

She pointed between her legs. A look of understanding came over Madam Pomfrey’s face. “Oh, sweetie, you’ve likely started your period. I’ll do a scan, just in case, but you are at the age…”

“My what?”

“Your period. Your mother never explained?” Madam Pomfrey ushered Virgo to one of the beds. With one wave of her wand, a privacy screen rolled around them. “You must be so frightened. It’s nothing to worry about. Let me do the scan, and then I’ll explain.”

The matron waved her wand over Virgo’s body, emitting a golden light that seemed to permeate her skin.

“Just as I thought. Nothing more serious. Although you could stand to eat some more green vegetables and red meat, darling.”

Virgo made a face at the suggestion of eating more vegetables, but quickly set that thought aside. “I’m not dying?”

“Oh, heavens, no, child. I’ve never had a child die on my watch, and you certainly aren’t in any danger. An easy spell will get rid of the bleeding.”

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over Virgo’s abdomen, and immediately the slight cramping disappeared, and she couldn’t feel any blood trickling from her vagina anymore. The healer waved her wand again, and Virgo had the impression that she had cast a cleaning charm on her, as her thighs no longer itched from the dried blood.

“Do you know what a vagina is, darling?”

Virgo nodded, blushing slightly. It was a bit strange to hear an adult say that word, as she had only ever heard it in the privacy of Draco’s or her bedrooms.

“Well, when people with vaginas are fertile, they have a period every month, as their bodies expel the lining that they had prepared in case they became pregnant. It can be a bit uncomfortable, and messy, but it’s not dangerous or unnatural. Every month when your period starts, you can stop by here and I’ll cast the charm to vanish the lining from your body, so you don’t need to bleed. If you don’t come by for the charm, the bleeding will stop naturally in a few days.”

“I would have bled for a few _days_?” Virgo repeated. “How is that safe?”

Madam Pomfrey smiled. “Your body is stronger than you think, dear. As long as you’re eating right, your body can make blood and tissue much faster than a period loses it.”

There was a creak from outside the privacy screen, that Virgo recognized as the door of the hospital wing opening. Madam Pomfrey peeked outside and told the student that had entered to take a seat. Then she turned back to Virgo.

“Do you have any more questions, darling? I’ll go over this in the health education class I teach to the first-years in the spring, but it’s no harm to talk about it more than once.”

Virgo bit her lip. She had so many questions, but she was uncomfortable asking them directly, even if Madam Pomfrey made her feel relatively safe. “Do you have any pamphlets or books on this that I can read?”

Madam Pomfrey smiled. “A Ravenclaw, huh? Of course, dear. I’ll go get them. You sit tight, and then I’ll give you a note to take to class with you.”

When Virgo finally got to Astronomy class and interrupted Professor Sinistra’s lecture to give her Madam Pomfrey’s pass, all her peers stared questioningly at her. Virgo blushed and took the last empty seat, next to Luna. For all of Luna’s eccentricities, she was unlikely to pester Virgo about where she’d been and from whom she’d gotten the note.

Esmerelda had no such reservations. As soon as the girls got back to the dorm room at the end of the day to drop their bags, she cornered Virgo.

“Are you going to tell us what was up with you today?” she demanded, her hands on her hips. “I know you didn’t take twenty minutes to use the lavatory.”

Virgo blushed. “No, I… I had to go to the hospital wing.”

“Are you sick?” Victoria asked from her bed, where she had collapsed dramatically, still in her school robes. “Why even come back to class?”

“Not sick,” Virgo hedged. “Just… have you heard of a ‘period?’”

Esmerelda’s eyes lit up. “No way! You got yours? That’s _early_. My older sister got hers first year, but she said most girls don’t get them until second or third. And you’re the youngest in the year!”

Victoria nodded. “What was it like? My mum didn’t explain much.”

“Messy,” Virgo answered honestly.

“What was messy?” Claire asked, as she entered the dorm room after using the toilet. Virgo was glad to see that her friend had come out of her shell a bit in the last month, speaking up a bit more in groups.

“Virgo got her period,” Esmerelda announced. “You haven’t gotten it yet, have you?”

Claire blushed red. “No,” she answered, and didn’t say anything else.

“Just like I thought,” Esmerelda declared loudly, flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder. “First in the year, I’m calling it. I wonder if this means your boobs will get big first too. The boys will be after you, even more than they already are.”

“What do you mean, after me?”

Esmerelda laughed. “Oh Virgo, you’re so sweet. You _must_ have noticed that the boys pay more attention to you than the rest of us. You’ve even got second- and third-year boys interested, since you made the Quidditch team. Tell her, Victoria.”

Victoria wrinkled her nose, but she replied nonetheless. “My brother and his friends _did_ ask about you, Virgo.”

“My father says that many of the pureblood families secretly mate with Veelas to increase their influence over powerful men,” Luna announced over the book she was reading in her bed. Virgo hadn’t realized she had been listening. The girls had gotten into the habit of ignoring Luna.

“I am _not_ part Veela,” Virgo asserted, aghast.

“You do have the hair for it,” Claire said, a rosy tint still across her cheeks. “Veelas usually have platinum blonde hair, in their human form.”

“I am _not_ —”

“Alright, alright,” Esmerelda interrupted with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Well, I’ll be coming to you first when I get my period. Now, who’s up for getting a game of exploding snap going with the boys?”

* * *

Virgo couldn’t get the girls’ conversation out of her head. She found herself analyzing the way the boys in her year interacted with her, wondering whether Justin Jones was smiling at her more widely than normal when she passed him the potatoes at dinner, or if he was just especially hungry. At Quidditch practice the next day, she blushed and stammered when Anthony Goldstein started up a conversation about Puddlemere’s latest match, even though she had listened to it on the wireless with Caecius, and she had much to say about it.

Growing up, as she had, playing Quidditch with Draco and his friends, and later Caecius, she hadn’t thought much of the fact that the Ravenclaw team was made up of mostly boys. But now she couldn’t _stop_ noticing it. Most of the boys, like Dillon, were upperclassmen, and doubtlessly thought of her as a little girl, but Page and Inglebee were fourth years, and the reserve seeker, Shoma Ichikawa, was a third year. The idea that they could find her pretty or noticeable filled Virgo with equal parts of thrill and horror.

Therefore, when Dillon called her back to talk to him privately after practice, Virgo was a bit more apprehensive than she usually would have been. She fidgeted nervously, tossing the school broom from hand to hand.

“Listen, Malfoy,” Troy began in a business-like tone. “I’ve avoided having this conversation with you, because I didn’t want to push, but I think it’s about high time I asked.”

Virgo frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that.

“The first match of the season, against Hufflepuff, is next weekend. When you tried out, you implied that you had your own broom at home, but you’re still playing on that Shooting Star. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re still bloody good, but…”

Virgo exhaled. “I know,” she groaned. “I keep finding myself missing throws because I can’t get there fast enough. If you want to put Anthony in for the Hufflepuff match, that’s fine.”

“No,” Troy scoffed. “I still think you’re the better player, and you balance out Davies—even on that old broom, you somehow always get open for him when he gets himself into trouble. But I need to ask—what’s going on?”

“My father… my parents didn’t know I was going to try out,” Virgo explained. “They implied they’d send along my broom, but I haven’t wanted to push them since it hasn’t shown up.”

“Do they not approve of you playing Quidditch?” Troy asked bluntly.

“No, that’s not it,” Virgo sighed. “They just don’t approve of surprises.”

Troy looked torn between empathy and frustration. “Well, you’ll never know if you don’t ask. Worst they can do is say no, right? And if you don’t ask, you’ll be stuck on that Shooting Star anyway.”

Virgo grimaced. She could think of a million things that her parents could do that was worse than just saying no. Still, Troy had a point. She would never know unless she tried.

After dinner, when the rest of her friends stood to go back up to the common room, Virgo hung back. “I’ll see you later,” she told Caecius. “I need to talk to Draco.”

Esmerelda rolled her eyes. “Draco this, Draco that. Take a break from being the darling sister for once.”

Caecius groaned. “Don’t start, Esme. Talking to Virgo about Draco is asking for a fight.”

Virgo stuck out her tongue at him and rounded the end of the table to proceed to where Draco was sitting. Greg, who was next to Draco, saw her coming and pushed into Millicent to make room.

“I need to talk to you,” Virgo murmured abruptly, squeezing into the space Greg left.

“Hello to you too,” Draco smirked. Vincent laughed dutifully.

“If it isn’t the cuter Malfoy,” Blaise greeted with a wink before Virgo could reply to Draco.

“Virgo! Are you coming back to the common room? I finished with my copy of _Witch Weekly_ , if you want to borrow it like you said,” Daphne called from down the table.

“Daphne! You said I could read it,” Tracey whined.

“Hey Virgo, do you remember the book on the various wizarding schools that we were discussing the other day?” Selma Runcorn asked, leaning around Tracey to see her. “I tried to find it in the library, but I couldn’t remember the title.”

“How do you have time to read _extra_ books, with all the work the professors have assigned?” Pansy asked Selma, while Daphne and Tracey bickered next to them.

Greg took advantage of the girls’ talking to get Virgo’s attention. “Oi, if you do come back to the common room, do you think you could look over my essay for Flitwick? Only, you give much nicer feedback than anyone else…”

Draco abruptly stood up, a stormy look on his face as he interrupted the flurry of addresses aimed at his sister. “Alright, Virgo, up you get. We won’t get a word in edgewise around this lot.”

“But Draco, you haven’t finished your pudding!” Vincent declared. The students around him laughed at Vince’s appalled tone.

Virgo waved goodbye, allowing Draco to pull her out of the Great Hall and down towards the dungeons. The walk was familiar to her now, having accompanied Draco back to his common room enough times. Even though the dungeons were still damp, dark, and devoid of portraits, they were familiar now.

“Figures that my friends would like you more than me now,” Draco grumbled. Virgo thought he was trying for a joke, but it came out sounding vulnerable instead.

“They do _not_ ,” she scoffed. “Anyway, I never thought you cared about being well-liked, only about being respected.”

Draco’s mouth quirked up, bemused. “I suppose you’re right,” he acknowledged, pulling on the end of her braid affectionately. “Although being well-liked certainly doesn’t hurt. Blame yourself for that—you gave me the taste for being adored.”

Virgo rolled her eyes even as she blushed. If he was expecting his friends to love him as much as she loved him, she thought he’d be waiting for the rest of his life. Still, saying _that_ out loud was a bit too honest, these days.

They reached the common room and Draco gave the password. It had changed the previous day, so Virgo took note in case she had to invade the common room alone in the next two weeks. The room’s only occupants were a couple of upperclassmen that Virgo didn’t know, studying diligently with the air of rushing for a deadline. Draco seemed to waffle about taking some of the best armchairs in front of the fire, but after a moment he pulled Virgo down the hallway to his dorm room instead.

Virgo immediately flopped onto Draco’s bed, getting comfortable. Without Gilly around to clean up after him, his bed was unmade, but it was still comfortable and smelled like him. She hoped her deep inhale was discreet.

Draco was more reserved as he sat down on the next bed—Vince’s, Virgo recalled—carefully. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I need your advice,” Virgo declared, wiggling around to sit comfortably. “About how to handle Mother and Father.”

Draco looked suspicious. “What did you do now?”

“Nothing! You don’t need to say it like _that_.”

Draco rolled his eyes, but he looked fond. “Alright, you’re the perfect child who never breaks the rules or gives Mother and Father conniptions. What’s this about?”

“My broom,” Virgo answered bluntly. “They still haven’t sent it. I’ve been practicing on a school broom all this time, but people are starting to ask questions.”

Draco’s mouth dropped open. “You’ve been playing on a bloody _Shooting Star_ for the last month, and this is the first you’re telling me?”

Virgo blushed. “The school brooms aren’t _that_ bad. And I thought I should give Father some time to calm down.”

Draco groaned and covered his eyes dramatically. “How could I have ever thought you could be in Slytherin? Virgo, if you avoid engaging with Father, he’ll use the time to _plot_ , not to calm down. And in the meantime, I bet you’ve ignored his request to come up with an excuse for why he won’t be buying the Ravenclaw team Nimbus Two-Thousand and Ones like he did for Slytherin.”

Virgo pouted, scooting to the edge of the bed to mirror Draco’s position. “I was hoping you’d forget that he asked me to do that. What was I supposed to tell people? That the shop just ran out of brooms?”

Draco sighed dramatically. “You could have told people that he felt it would be financially irresponsible to spend so many galleons in one quarter, or that he had given me the brooms as a birthday present and that it wouldn’t be fair to give you them after you’d already gotten other presents, or that Mother felt that a Nimbus was too fast for you, being still so young, or that he had placed a bet on Slytherin’s chances, or a million other reasons. But now that you’ve let rumors fester, no one will believe any of those excuses. We’ll have to play offense instead.”

Virgo scuffed her shoe on the floor, irritated. “You could just let me borrow your broom for the Hufflepuff game,” she mumbled.

“What, and have Father take out his irritation on me afterwards? No thank you,” he scoffed. “Besides, then you’d be back on a school broom for the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game, not to mention that the Slytherins would view my action as treachery and probably start kicking you out of the common room.”

Virgo ignored the rational voice in her head that understood his reasoning and continued to pout silently. Honestly, one of the main reasons that she had avoided writing home to ask after her broom was because she had assumed Draco would lend her his, if she pressed. His immediate rejection stung. She missed the days when she felt she could ask anything of her brother and he would give it to her, but those days were long gone now. “So, what do you suggest?” she grumbled after a minute.

Her brother huffed, and Virgo got the sense that he was just as frustrated with her as she was with him. “ _I’ll_ write Mother or Father. Just let me take care of it.”

“Fine.”

“Now, is that all? I finished the latest book in that crime series I stole from you. I _knew_ Lancroft was the murderer! He was creepy from the beginning.”

Virgo fidgeted, still upset despite her brother changing the subject. She didn’t know if Draco had actually called the fact that Lancroft was the culprit, or if he was exaggerating, but neither case cooled her irritation. _She_ had been quite surprised when the big reveal came around. It was one of the reasons that she liked this particular book series so much, but now she wondered if she had overlooked some foreshadowing.

“I have a Transfiguration test to revise for,” she prevaricated. “I can’t stay.”

Draco did not seem convinced. “Aw, come on, Virgo, don’t be like that.”

Virgo stood. “Another night, Draco,” she promised, attempting to paint a look of ease over her face. To distract him, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Promise. And I’ll bring you another book that I think you’ll like next time—a different series, but same genre.”

Draco nodded, but she was already out of the door.

* * *

Despite Draco’s refusal to give Virgo his broom, and her subsequent abrupt exit, Draco did come through on his promise to her. At breakfast two days later, Archimedes and Aquila swooped in, carrying a large thin package between them. Several students in the Great Hall pointed or followed the owl’s path with their eyes, and Virgo knew that everyone recognized the shape as a broomstick.

“ _Finally_ ,” Caecius muttered, clearing the goblet of pumpkin juice out of the way so that the owls wouldn’t knock it over. Liam, who was next to Virgo and looking very sleepy, startled when the broomstick landed in the middle of the table.

Virgo half-heartedly kicked Caecius under the table for his comment. He knew the broad strokes of her father’s disapproval, and should know better than to comment on it, even obliquely, in public. Thankfully, all her friends were either too intrigued by the broomstick or lethargic to care about his comment.

“Go on, open it, Virgo,” Caecius prodded. Virgo appreciated how easygoing her friend was, but at that moment she wished he would at least _pretend_ to feel a little pain from where she kicked him. Rolling her eyes, she acquiesced with his request.

It was clear that someone (likely Taruther or one of the other elves) had taken a broom servicing kit to her Comet 260. The handle was freshly polished, the twigs were in perfect alignment and freshly clipped, and _Virgo Malfoy_ was engraved in gold on the handle. It gave the impression that the broom was a gift, a blessing, rather than a hand-me-down from Draco. Still, Virgo itched to bring it out to the pitch that second, to fly on a proper broom again.

While her friends oohed and ahhed over her broom, and Esmerelda and Aelius discussed the advantages of Comets vs Cleensweeps, Virgo unrolled the note that had been carefully attached to the broom’s handle.

_Virgo,_

_Draco won’t always be able to do your negotiating for you, darling. At some point, you will have to learn to communicate with your father. He only hopes to provide the best and easiest life for you that he can, even if his methods look dubious from the outside. I expect you to send him a thank you note for this broom, or our etiquette lessons were for naught._

_Good luck next week. I love you._

_Mother_

Virgo sighed, scanning the letter for a second time. Why was it that her family members were constantly reminding her to empathize with her father, while he was not doing the same for her? Still, at least Draco’s negotiations worked.

“Move, runt.”

Virgo looked up. Draco was prodding Liam in the back, trying to get him to move down the bench. Virgo tried to give an apologetic look to her housemate, but he was too busy glaring at her brother to notice. Virgo would have to apologize in private, later. Draco sneered and sat down next to her, in the seat Liam had vacated.

“Well? Where’s my thank you?” Draco prompted.

Caecius scoffed angrily across the table, but when Draco and Virgo looked at him, he was pretending to read _the Daily Prophet_ over Claire’s shoulder, instead of listening to them.

“Thank you, Draco,” Virgo obliged. “What did you say to Father?”

“Not Father, Mother,” Draco explained, stealing a sausage off Virgo’s plate. “Mother’s much better at dealing with him directly. I just pointed out that whether or not people believed your excuses for Father, the school governors would whisper about the state of our finances if they heard you were flying on a school broom in a match. I also argued that you had learned your lesson, and further punishment would be unnecessary.”

“What lesson is that?” Virgo muttered, for Draco’s ears only. “That I should protect Father’s ego at all costs?”

Draco regarded her, unimpressed. “Father’s _ego_ reflects the state of the Malfoy name, which affects us all. So yes, we should protect it. Of course, I may have exaggerated how deeply you learned the lesson, but I knew Mother likes to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Virgo rolled her eyes, but resisted responding. She knew that following this train of conversation would only result in a fight, and they couldn’t speak openly in the middle of the Great Hall. She could already feel Caecius watching her sympathetically from across the table.

“So, now that you have a proper broom again, how do you feel about going flying with me this weekend? Only, I promised Flint that I would try to get information out of you on Troy’s strategy, and this will get him off my back.”

Virgo sighed, trying to excise all the resentment of her father and the shame for not being more Slytherin-minded and the feel of her housemates’ disapproval of her brother out of her body. She leaned slightly towards her brother, and when she bumped his shoulder, he reached out under the table to squeeze her hand comfortingly. And then, quick as a wink, his touch was gone.

“Sure, Draco,” she promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't been saying it, but I wanted to thank you all for all your wonderful comments. I read every single one and think deeply about your feedback, and they just warm my heart. You're all great.
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	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo plays in her first quidditch match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter yet, so hopefully it makes up for the longer than normal wait time!

The morning of Virgo’s first Quidditch game she woke up, for once, before Claire. She was lying awake, staring at the canopy above her fourposter when she finally heard her friend yawn and begin gathering her things. Virgo sighed tiredly and pulled her curtains open.

Claire was crouched over her trunk, still clad in her night robe, seemingly debating whether she should bring _The Standard Book of Spells_ or _A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration_ to the library. She looked up, meeting Virgo’s eyes.

“Are you coming to the library today?” she asked calmly.

Virgo grimaced in apology. “I should really try to sleep for a couple more hours before the match.”

“Seems like _that’s_ going well,” Claire observed dryly. Virgo rolled her eyes and wiggled onto her stomach, forcing her arms underneath her pillow.

“Are you going to come to the match?” she asked, once she had gotten comfortable again.

A yawn erupted across Claire’s face a moment after she shot Virgo an incredulous look, which ruined the effect a bit. “Of course not,” she explained after she finished yawning. “Besides, I promised—”

Claire cut herself off, frozen like a deer under a lumos.

“You promised who what?” Virgo asked.

Claire bit her lip. “Abilene. She said she’s not interested in watching Quidditch either, so we can revise for this week’s Potions practical together. You’re not mad, are you? That we made plans without you?”

“Of course not,” Virgo frowned. “I’m glad that you like Abilene too. And obviously I’m busy today.”

Claire hummed, and continued packing her bag. Soothed by Claire’s quiet movements, Virgo’s eyes were able to drift closed, thinking about her friends instead of the Quidditch match.

When she woke up again, all the other girls were also up, giggling and chatting about the match. Even Luna, who usually defied convention in all ways, was trying to show her support for her house by charming her hair bright blue and gold.

On the way down to breakfast, Esmerelda chattered in her ear about the various Hufflepuff players. It seemed that Esmerelda had a bit of a crush on the Hufflepuff Keeper, Cedric Diggory,[1] because she spent more time talking about his hair than his gameplay. Virgo was glad that Esmerelda, confident and gregarious as she was, did not need much input from her, since Virgo’s throat seemed too tight to speak.

When she came into the Great Hall, she was relieved to find that the rest of her team had decided to sit together. She didn’t think she could stand to sit by her classmates and hear them chattering on about the match, oblivious to her nervousness. She slid into the seat next to Cho and began serving herself.

Her teammates all seemed to be of a similar mood to her, as rather than exchanging greetings, most of them just grunted or nodded at her. Next to her, Cho was as pale as Virgo had ever seen her, clutching her mug of tea like a lifeline.

Only Troy spoke to Virgo. “Alright, Malfoy?” he prompted.

Virgo inhaled shakily and shrugged.

“You’ll be fine,” he said, which sounded more like a command than a promise. “The rain looks like it’ll hold off for today, so that’s good.”

Virgo nodded vaguely, but she couldn’t help but wonder if the rain would have kept more students away from the match. She was nervous enough about people watching without the realization that practically the entire school would be present.

After another twenty minutes of silent eating (or in Cho’s case, sipping), Troy cleared his throat. “Are you all done?” he asked. “We should head down, to start warming up before the rest of the school gets there.”

On the way down to the pitch, Virgo stuck close to Cho and Anthony. Somehow, her anxiety felt lighter next to two similarly nervous teammates. In front of them, Dillon was talking the ear off his fellow Beater, Duncan Inglebee, getting in some last-minute strategizing.

The Hufflepuff team was already in the air when the Ravenclaws got there. As Virgo mounted her broom, she took note of their players. The three chasers were all larger than her, which was to be expected, but the lone female chaser, Heidi MacAvoy, still managed to be light and graceful on her broom. Virgo frowned, realizing that her usual quickness might be matched by MacAvoy’s. Virgo found the large grin across the face of Esmerelda’s crush even more concerning. Even as Diggory missed a few practice shots from his teammates, he exuded confidence, as if he wasn’t worried about the match in the slightest.

Virgo couldn’t feel more differently.

Her team made a couple of laps of the pitch to warm up their flying, and then they split up by position. Virgo tried not to notice the stadium slowly filling as she passed back and forth with Anthony, and then further as they began shooting against Grant. When Dillon called them all together to head into the locker room for a pre-game pep talk, Virgo was torn between relief at being out of sight of the school, and anxiety that the game was about to start.

“Alright, team,” Dillon began once they were all seated around him. “I know some of you lot are new, so this may be a wee bit scary, but remember that we’re the defending champions this year. Hufflepuff’s team usually can be trusted to play fair, but Jordan won’t hold back on his commentary. Try to tune him out, yeah? We’ve practiced, we’ve strategized, and we’re a bloody good team.”

Davies slapped his leg enthusiastically, as if to cheer on the sentiment. The rest of the team clutched their brooms anxiously.

A whistle sounded from outside, and Troy looked back to the door. “That’ll be Hooch’s signal. Reserve, stay limber, alright? No telling when we’ll need one of you. The rest of you, play your heart out.”

Virgo tightened her flying gloves nervously and followed Page out onto the pitch. Diggory and Troy shook hands, and then they all mounted their brooms, and then—

When Hooch’s whistle sounded, they all shot into the air, Virgo flying directly for the Quaffle. The opposing Chaser—Applebee, Virgo remembered—seemed to hesitate, not wanting to crash into her, and she was able to tip the Quaffle back to Davies like they had practiced.

The match was both familiar and entirely alien. Everything seemed to move faster with all fourteen players on the pitch, and the energy from the crowd heightened all Virgo’s emotions. Still, her job was the same as always. Get open, hold on to the Quaffle, and get it through the hoops.

She was right about MacAvoy being able to keep up with her. Hufflepuff seemed to be playing wizard to wizard defense, rather than zone, and therefore MacAvoy was clinging to Virgo’s side whenever Ravenclaw had possession. Virgo was forced to fly tighter to Davies and Burrow to prevent her opponent from sneaking in to intercept their passes.

Thankfully, her captain had caught on to her difficulty. “Heads up, Malfoy!” Troy shouted, as Virgo tried to get open for Davies. She glanced up to find a Bludger heading for MacAvoy, and Virgo was able to escape her. Virgo shot forward, catching Davies’ pass easily and pounding it through the right hoop.

She had scored her first goal of her Quidditch career. The Ravenclaw stands erupted, and Virgo distantly heard Jordan announcing her name and the score, but she was more focused on quickly getting back in position as Diggory recovered the Quaffle and sent it sailing out to Preece.

The match continued at the same speed, and Virgo felt like she was barely able to keep up. Between rushing to get open and avoiding the Bludgers and trying to lose MacAvoy, she hardly had a moment to breathe. Despite the chill in the air, she was hot underneath her Quidditch leathers, and she knew her face was flushed.

Twenty minutes in, Ravenclaw was up seventy to forty, which was largely due to Page being a much better keeper than Diggory. Every time that Virgo glanced at Cho, she was still circling the pitch at attention, keeping close to Hufflepuff’s seeker, Whitney Wright. There was no telling how long the match would go for.

Virgo had scored two more goals by the time that the Snitch had its first sighting. Hooch had called Burrow for stooging—entering the scoring area even though Davies was already inside—and the Chasers were halted as they waited for the Quaffle to be turned over to Hufflepuff in response.

The stadium’s volume tripled as the Seekers dived after the Snitch. Virgo glanced away from the Quaffle to find Cho at a disadvantage. She was a brilliant flier, but she was still a few broom-lengths behind the other Seeker. As a last desperate maneuver, Cho managed to cut off the corner and fly in front of Wright, who had to pivot on a knut to avoid her.

Virgo grinned. The Snitch had escaped, and Wright looked stormy as she returned to scanning the pitch for the small ball. Troy, unlike Virgo, was not impressed.

“Chang! What did I say about using yourself as an obstacle?! You won’t be any use to us hurt!”

Cho rolled her eyes and didn’t respond to Troy, and Virgo grinned to herself. Dillon was constantly chastising her and Cho for being too aggressive, as if by virtue of their gender, they were at more risk to get hurt than the rest of the players. Cho and she mostly laughed at it, now. They might fly aggressively, but they were the players least likely to get hit by a Bludger. Burrow and Davies seemed to get hit every other practice, because they were too focused on scoring to keep an eye out.

And like clockwork, a Bludger socked Burrow in the arm, causing him to drop the Quaffle just before he would have scored. While Burrow was attended to by Madam Pomfrey, Troy motioned for Goldstein to take flight, and the match was back on.

Virgo would never say anything against Troy’s decisions, but she secretly preferred flying with Anthony and Roger as opposed to Roger and Randolph. Anthony, like her, was better at staying open, while Randolph often just competed with Roger with showy maneuvers and Quaffle-hogging. With Anthony playing, Ravenclaw was able to extend their lead to one hundred and sixty to eighty. Three times in a row, Roger had dumped off the Quaffle to Anthony or Virgo just before the scoring area, leaving them a clear route to the goalposts.

Suddenly, the crowd began shrieking again. Next to her, MacAvoy also turned to watch the Seekers’ flight. It was clear that Cho had seen the Snitch first, as she was ahead, but the Hufflepuff’s broom was outstripping Chang’s. Cho swerved defensively in front of her, preventing her opponent from getting a clear shot at the Snitch.

Virgo thought that Cho was going to pull off the catch, but then the Snitch banked unexpectedly, and the Hufflepuff Seeker turned without thought—right into Cho. Cho tried to right herself, but she had clearly overcommitted to the Snitch, and her hands slipped from the broom.

It was lucky that Madam Hooch was trained for such accidents, as she pulled her wand in no time flat, saving Cho from the worst of the crash. Still, she lay on the ground feebly, and Troy, rubbing his face in frustration, motioned for Shoma to replace Cho as Madam Pomfrey healed her injuries.

Ichawaka would later admit that the catch was nothing but luck. No sooner had he mounted his broom and pushed off than the Snitch flew right in front of him. It was typical of a Quidditch match: an endless slog followed by a fleeting finish. Shoma looked just as confused to find the snitch in his hand as Jordan’s commentary was.

“I don’t believe it! The snitch just—after—” Lee cleared his throat, and then he continued on in a more collected tone. “In his very first minute of play as Ravenclaw’s Seeker, Shoma Ichawaka manages to snag the Snitch. Ravenclaw wins, three hundred and ten to eighty!”

Virgo landed with the rest of her team around Shoma, whose complexion was remarkably red. Burrow, whose arm was wrapped in a sling, ran out to meet them.

“One house down, two to go,” Troy cheered, slinging an arm around Page and grinning. “Nicely done, team!”

As they celebrated, the Hufflepuff team landed near them. Ever the good sports, their opponents came over and shook their hands one by one. After, Virgo spotted the Hufflepuff Seeker crouched by Cho, obviously apologizing for the hit, despite that it was Cho whose flying brought it on.

Then Virgo was surrounded by a sea of blue and gold. It seemed that the entire Ravenclaw stands had flooded the pitch to congratulate the team. Caecius found her first and hugged her so tightly that Virgo was pulled slightly off the ground. He was followed by the rest of the first years (minus Claire), and then Anthony and his friends joined their group.

By the time the fervor died down and her housemates began to drift back to the castle, leaving Virgo free to look around, all the stands were empty. Her heart beat faster hoping—surely Draco didn’t—

She needn’t have worried, because he was waiting for her by the entrance to the locker rooms. But he wasn’t alone.

“Father?” she greeted breathlessly as she approached Draco and Lucius. “What are you doing here?”

Lucius smiled stiffly, as if he were testing out his facial muscles. The expression quickly flitted from his face. “As a school governor, I’m invited to all of Hogwarts’ matches. Of course I would want to be present for my daughter’s first match.”

Virgo bit her lip as an unfamiliar emotion filled her chest. As much as Lucius’ presence gave her a sense of unease, she found herself remarkably susceptible to the praise.

“The other school governors must have been so impressed,” Draco cheered. “Virgo scoring seven goals—more than any other player! What did they say, Father?”

Virgo’s brow furrowed. “Seven? No, surely not, Roger must have scored more than me.”

“Davies?” Draco scoffed. “No, he only scored five. Goldstein and Burrow each had two. You really didn’t know, Virgo?”

“You should keep better track, Virgo. The other governors _were_ quite impressed,” Lucius drawled. “Several of them are joining me for drinks in Hogsmeade. You must let me introduce you both… although, it might need to be another time, considering I’m sure you want to clean up, first, Virgo.” Lucius, in a rare act of physical affection, brushed Virgo’s hair out of her face. “If your mother could see the state of you…”

“Oi, Virgo! Are you coming?”

Virgo turned. Her friends were waiting for her at the edge of the pitch. Jordan was the one who called out, and Caecius was elbowing him in disapproval when Virgo turned. Virgo waved for them to go on ahead.

“Your housemates?” Lucius asked scornfully. Virgo knew he wouldn’t approve of Jordan’s interruption, and hoped she wasn’t in store for a lecture on Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw in regard to propriety.

“Yes.”

Lucius was still observing the retreating figures of her friends. “The blonde boy… who is he?”

Virgo’s heart sunk. So _that_ was what he wanted to lecture about, today. “Liam Jamison,” she hedged, pretending not to know where this inquiry was going.

“ _What_ is he wearing?”

“Just trousers and a jumper,” Virgo mumbled, digging her toe into the ground underneath her idly. “It’s Saturday, Father, uniform isn’t required on the weekend.”

Lucius’ expression darkened. “A mudblood, I suppose? This is why you should have been in Slytherin, Virgo.”

Virgo was thankful that at least there was no one around to hear her father’s words. “I _told_ you, I asked for Slytherin, Father. And there’s nothing wrong with Ravenclaw.”

“There is if you’re surrounded with _that_ sort. You’re not friends with him, are you?”

“Of course not, Father,” Draco interrupted. “I would’ve told her off, otherwise. They’re just acquaintances.” Virgo gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything. She liked Liam, and even though they weren’t close, she counted him as a friend. Still, Draco knew better than her how to deal with their father.

Lucius’ eyes drilled into Virgo’s. “Be thankful you have Draco around.”

Draco must have recognized the look on Virgo’s face, because he quickly changed the subject to avoid her sticking her foot in her mouth. “Are you going to come to my match in two weeks, too, Father?”

Lucius didn’t look away from Virgo for a moment, seemingly challenging her to say what was on her mind. She didn’t crack, and he turned to his son instead. “I won’t be able to make your match, Draco. I have an engagement that weekend with Minister Fudge and the French ambassador which I simply cannot miss.” Draco looked crestfallen, and Lucius attempted to stave off his complaints with questions. “How does the team look? Have the brooms won favor with your housemates. What about Snape, has he commented on it?”

The three of them began walking back to the castle, and thankfully Draco kept up the conversation with their father for the duration, despite his demeanor turning more downtrodden after their father’s rejection. When they arrived at the oak front door, Lucius stopped, prepared to part from his children and make the walk into Hogsmeade.

“Thank you for coming to my match, Father,” Virgo recited. Draco’s face contorted slightly in jealousy.

Lucius nodded, his steel eyes boring into Virgo’s own. “Draco, I need to speak to your sister alone.”

Draco’s mouth opened slightly, but whatever he had thought to say never came out. Instead, he turned on his heel and stomped into the Entrance Hall without a farewell to Lucius.

Virgo shifted. The sweat on her skin was drying, and she suddenly felt frigid in the late October air. She wanted to run inside and take a long shower and hide in her bed. But instead she waited patiently for her Father to speak.

“Your mother has asked me to be more open with you, Virgo,” Lucius began. Virgo looked up from the ground to meet his eyes curiously. “As a Slytherin, your brother knows to follow my directives, or face the consequences. Your mother argues that as a Ravenclaw, you might be more willing to behave if I give you my reasoning.”

He paused as if to get Virgo’s input. She just nodded, unwilling to say the wrong thing.

“You remember the conversation you and I had the day you left for Hogwarts?”

Virgo nodded again, although in her mind she commented that it wasn’t so much a conversation as a lecture.

“I asked you not to socialize with those who would damage our family’s reputation.”

Virgo frowned. “Are you speaking of muggleborns, Father?” she asked. There was no one outside to hear their conversation, but she had lowered her voice nonetheless.

“Partly,” Lucius conceded. “But it would also not do to have you associate with those opposite me politically. Blood-traitors like the Weasleys.”

“Because of the Muggle-Protection Act, and Arthur Weasley’s attempt to search the manor?”

Lucius’ jaw clenched, and Virgo blushed. She was so eager to get information from her father, who was typically so reticent, that she forgot to hide how much she remembered from their day in Hogsmeade.

“Partly,” her father repeated. “But also, because if I am successful with my intentions, life will become much more difficult for muggleborns and those who associate with them. I don’t want you to be caught in the crossfire.”

Virgo frowned. She had known that Lucius was working to defend their family against Mr. Weasley’s investigation, but this was the first he had spoken of his own schemes. She wondered what exactly he had planned.

“Liam’s the only muggle-born I know,” she muttered finally, although that wasn’t explicitly true. Weirdly, Granger still smiled at her when they saw each other in the library, and Justin always said hello when they passed in the hallways. “Other than the Ravenclaws, I only associate with Draco and other Slytherins. I don’t know all my housemates’ parents’ politics, but none of them are Weasleys.”

Lucius nodded. “I am happy to hear that.”

Virgo clenched her jaw. She hadn’t realized how much she had enjoyed the chance to get out from her father’s reputation and make new friends until now, when she was having it stifled. “Is that all, Father?” she asked, turning slightly away as if to leave.

Her father stooped slightly to grab her arm and pull her back to face him. She attempted to hide the pout across her face, but he clearly took notice. Virgo was surprised he didn’t instantly scold her for her rudeness. “I am _trying_ , Virgo,” he hissed quietly instead.

Virgo’s throat clenched. “I know, Father,” she mumbled. She thought that the fact that this was him making an effort might be sadder than if he never had. He still had so far to go before they could see eye to eye.

Lucius, for once, seemed willing to concede the last word. He sighed and changed the subject. “You played very well today, Virgo. You made the Malfoy name proud.”

“Thank you, Father.” The joy and pride that she had felt after the match felt far away, but she still recognized that it was rare for her father to praise her so directly.

Lucius sighed yet again and took a small step back, towards Hogsmeade. “I should go; I’ll be late for drinks,” he explained. Again, he raised his hand and brushed Virgo’s hair from her face. He must be really appalled with how messy her braid had gotten during the match, she thought. “Your mother sends her love.”

And then he turned, and walked away, and Virgo was left alone.

* * *

Ravenclaw house seemed to radiate pride the week after their first Quidditch match. Flitwick personally congratulated Virgo on the win during Charms class that Tuesday, and several of her classmates who had overheard cheered in support. Whenever Virgo saw Shoma in the hallway, he was accompanied by several of their housemates, despite that the shy boy always had been alone when she’d seen him previously. Even Cho, who Virgo knew was quite frustrated with her failure to catch the Snitch, told Virgo that she had been complimented on her flying by several of the other Ravenclaws.

As much as Virgo loved Quidditch, she found herself quite relieved that the match had passed, and it would be three months before they faced Slytherin in their winter match-up. While the rest of her house rode out the glee at their success, Virgo took the extra free time that she had been spending at Quidditch practices to catch up on some studying.

That’s what she was doing Tuesday afternoon a week and a half after the match, sitting in the Ravenclaw common room at one of the tables with Claire, Esmerelda, and Victoria. It was rare for the four of them to study together, especially in the common room, which always had a low hum of conversation in the background, but Esmerelda hadn’t done well on their potions practical and had begged Claire, who had topped the class, to tutor her. Victoria and Virgo were just along for the ride.

Claire was explaining to Esmerelda how stirring speed affected the brewing process for the third time when a large group entered the door to the common room and what had been a background hum turned into a foreground racket.

The girls looked up in unison. Caecius and Liam were supporting Justin Jones, who was looking much worse for the wear with a black eye and pimples all over his face, and Anthony and Terry were doing the same for Michael Corner. Corner appeared to have either developed a terrible cold in the last three hours since Virgo saw him at lunch, or he had also been hexed.

“What happened?” asked Victoria, aghast. Penelope Clearwater seemed to have the same question, as she had risen from where she was studying with her friend by the fireplace to approach the boys.

“ _Malfoy_ happened,” spat Michael, as Anthony and Terry deposited him in an armchair. As soon as they did, Corner sneezed violently, causing everyone in the vicinity to grimace.

No one else seemed to be as confused by Michael’s explanation as Virgo was. When she furrowed her brow and vaguely asked, “What?” many of her friends winced awkwardly.

“We had a run-in with Draco,” Caecius explained, taking the seat next to Virgo.

Virgo’s heart sunk. “Draco did all this? Why?”

“Why? Because your brother’s a bigoted prick,” Justin exclaimed passionately. Penelope had done the counter-curse for his pimples, but she was still hovering over him, apparently at a loss with how to heal his physical injuries.

“Draco only did the hexing,” Anthony explained sourly. “It was Crabbe and Goyle who gave Justin the black-eye.”

Virgo groaned. This was getting worse and worse. She knew Vincent liked using his physical size to intimidate—it was the one thing he was better at than anybody else—but she couldn’t imagine Greg joining in unless he felt his friends had been insulted. “Can someone start from the beginning?”

Most of the group seemed unwilling to explain, so the task fell to Caecius. “We didn’t see the beginning,” he admitted. “When Justin, Liam and I walked up, Terry, Anthony, and Michael were already arguing with your brother and his friends.”

“Draco was being a prick in Charms,” Terry griped. “Somehow, he got top of the class on the last essay, and he was bragging nonstop about it. So Michael decided to take him down a peg.”

“On the way out of the door, Malfoy was saying something about Slytherin beating Ravenclaw at their own game—meaning schoolwork—so I said that I bet he wouldn’t be so cocky after the Slytherin v. Gryffindor match,” Michael explained. Penelope had performed the counter-curse for the Curse of the Bogies on him, but he still sniffed every few words. “I could tell that pissed him off, so I continued and said that I bet Slytherin wouldn’t win a single game this year, what with our team looking so brilliant last match, and Wright being a damn good seeker.”

“That’s when Draco really started in on us,” Anthony said with a clenched jaw. “Saying that it was easy for us to talk a big game, when none us had actually made the team outright, that the only way I could get into the match was from an injury, and the only way I could score was if you and Davies took pity on me.”

Virgo groaned again, raising her hands to cover her face. The insult was one of Draco’s specialties: just enough truth to make the recipient insecure. She would have to talk to Troy or Davies, to help raise Goldstein’s confidence in his Chasing again.

“So, I said that he bought his way onto the Slytherin team,” Terry explained, “That we’d all see the truth next weekend, that he had no talent on a broom.”

“That must have been when we walked up,” Caecius sighed. “We could tell that they were one second away from drawing wands, so we went to help. But Liam tried to keep the peace.”

Everyone looked at Liam. Virgo suddenly realized that he hadn’t said anything since the group came in.

Liam sighed. “I’ve got three brothers,” he explained. “I’ve had to break up a lot of fights between them—Callum and Doug get into it practically every day.”

It seemed like Liam was going to explain more, but Justin cut him off. “Liam was just trying to help,” he explained passionately. “Trying to talk Terry and the boys down, but your brother didn’t like that, so he said, ‘did I ask for your help, you mudblood?’”

Everyone who was listening, which was about half the common room, now, gasped. Penelope exclaimed, “He _didn’t_!” and Claire’s mouth had dropped open. Virgo reddened.

“I wasn’t going to let _that_ go,” Justin continued vehemently, “So I took out my wand, as did Michael. Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, as if to fight, while your brother drew his wand too. I thought Goyle was coming at me, so I sent a stinging hex at him, and that’s when all hell broke loose.”

Caecius bumped his knee gently against Virgo’s underneath the table as he started to speak. “When Justin hexed Greg, Draco started hexing too, while Vince and Greg just started punching. Michael and Justin were the closest, but we all probably would have joined in too, if Flitwick hadn’t come out and broken it up.”

“Oh, no,” Claire sighed. “Did you lose points?”

“Did we _ever_ ,” Michael groaned. “Flitwick took twenty points from everyone he saw with a wand out or with their fists up—so sixty points from Slytherin, eighty from us, since Terry and Anthony had taken out their wands to help by that point. Justin tried to tell him what Draco had called Liam, but you know Flitwick, he tries to be as fair as possible, so he said he couldn’t take points off for something he didn’t hear. Of course, he gave a speech about how that kind of language is unacceptable, but I doubt Malfoy listened.”

“I can’t believe he said that to you,” Esmerelda murmured to Liam. It was uncharacteristic of her to be so quiet, but she seemed honestly flabbergasted.

“He didn’t really mean it,” Virgo sighed. “He just likes to get a reaction.” Even though she was defending him, her words felt like treachery.

Several of her housemates scoffed. “He still _said_ it, Virgo,” Terry argued.

“Yeah, all of us know to never say that word,” Victoria proclaimed loftily. “I think it says more about your family that he knows it at all. We all know who your father is.”

Caecius leaned forward in his chair. “Oi, Draco’s a bloody prick, but don’t bring Virgo’s father into this. She’s not her family.”

“Well, she’s defending them!” Justin exclaimed.

Virgo was close to tears. The worst part was that she couldn’t say anything—she would never defend her father’s actions, but she knew she could never speak out against them either. And she couldn’t explain how her brother was just trying to make his father proud, because that condemned Lucius and the family name as much as if she said outright that her father used that word regularly—had used it to describe Liam himself just the week before.

“She was just _explaining_ , not defending,” Claire argued hotly, in a carrying voice that Virgo had only heard her use with Roger. “Don’t speak to her that way.”

“I’ll speak to her whatever way I want—”

“Would you all _stop_?”

Liam had spoken. The argument came to a halt as they all turned to him. Liam was the only one of the group who didn’t look mad. Instead, he only looked tired.

“Fighting is what got us into this mess, and Caecius is right, Virgo isn’t her brother, or her _father,_ and frankly, Victoria, that’s cruel of you to bring up the rest of her family, that’s not the issue at hand. I’m the only muggleborn here, and I’m not mad at Virgo, so you lot can just pack it in.” He finished his speech with a zealous stare around the group, just daring any of them to argue. Victoria looked quite astonished to have been scolded by him, and Justin’s dark skin was still flushed with anger, but no one spoke.

Penelope cleared her throat. “Justin, Michael, I’m not confident enough with my healing charms to attempt to fix your injuries. Let’s get you to Madam Pomfrey.”

It took a moment for them to react, but finally, Justin and Michael stood and followed Penelope from the common room. The silence hung oppressively in the air after them.

Caecius cleared his throat. “Come on, Virgo,” he murmured quietly, although she knew that all their friends could hear. “Let’s head to the library. I’d like to check out some books to supplement Lockhart’s terrible teaching.”

After Virgo packed up her books, Caecius slung an arm protectively around her shoulders, and didn’t remove it until they were out of the common room and halfway down the spiral staircase.

* * *

Not one of the Ravenclaw first-years mentioned Draco or the fight in the next twenty-four hours. Virgo couldn’t tell if they were doing so because Liam had asked, or because Caecius and Claire hadn’t left Virgo’s side since, and were uncharacteristically on guard, or because they honestly wanted to put the whole thing behind them. Still, a sort of tension hung in the air around them all day.

When the last bell rang and Professor Sprout called for them all to clean up their stations, many of her classmates rushed through the process and headed out the door before Virgo was done brushing the residual dirt off the worktable. Most days, all ten of the Ravenclaw first years walked back to the common room together, but only Caecius and Claire hung back to wait for Virgo today.

Neither of her friends commented on the departure from routine, and instead chatted about whether that night’s Halloween festivities would include any special commemoration of the ghosts of Hogwarts, and whether the food would be better than usual. Caecius was quite adamant that he had heard the dessert was catered by Honeyduke’s.

When the three friends entered the Entrance Hall, they all fell conspicuously silent. The Slytherin second years were making their way down the marble staircase to the dungeons. Caecius sighed, and he and Claire both stopped abruptly.

“Go on, then,” Caecius muttered to Virgo. “Go talk to him. We’ll wait.”

Virgo resisted the urge to hug her friends, and stepped into the Slytherins' path. Draco’s face went through a strange series of emotions when he spotted her, finally settling on stony resignation.

“Hello, Virgo,” he sighed.

“Draco,” Virgo greeted and then paused. If she was honest, she had known she’d have to have this conversation since she heard what happened yesterday, but she still didn’t know what she was going to say.

In uncharacteristic aid, Pansy gave her an opening. “Did you hear what your housemates did to your poor brother yesterday?” she asked, stopping with Millicent next to Draco, Vince, and Greg. Theo and Blaise eyed the group curiously but continued past.

“I heard about the fight,” Virgo explained, not taking her eyes off Draco. “Did you three get hurt?”

Draco scoffed, but wouldn’t meet Virgo’s eyes. “Like any of those losers could hex us properly. Although Greg hurt his hand on that Jones’ kid’s thick head.”

Greg’s hand was honestly quite bruised, but Virgo couldn’t gather much sympathy given it was his own fault for shoving his fist into someone else’s face.

“Your housemates are so _delicate_ ,” Pansy continued, a delighted note in her voice. “First they were jealous of Draco’s grade on the Charms essay, then they reacted so drastically to a _word_.”

“It’s a bit more than just a _word_ ,” Virgo said. She was surprised to hear how vehement the sentence came out.

The Slytherins looked at her like she was a stranger. “You’ve never had a problem with me saying it before,” Draco prodded.

“You’ve never said it to one of my friends before. And you know the Malfoy name has enough bad association already without you going around saying that in mixed company.”

“There weren’t any professors around,” Vincent argued, as if that made it better.

“I thought you weren’t friends with Jamison,” Draco said, eyes narrowed. “Father said—"

“He’s in my year, and he’s nice,” Virgo interrupted hotly. “I’m not going to keep him at arm’s length just because—”

They both went silent, at an impasse. Even in front of the other Slytherins, they knew better than to explicitly talk about what their father had said to Virgo after the Quidditch match.

Draco’s jaw was locked, and his eyes were strangely cold. “I don’t know what your _friends_ told you, but they weren’t blameless. I know you’re the darling of Ravenclaw these days, but I thought you cared about our family enough to ask for my side of the story before _blindly_ believing your housemates.”

Virgo frowned. She hated that they were having this conversation in front of an audience. “Draco—”

But Draco had turned away. “I’ll talk to you later, Virgo. We have an essay due in Transfiguration that I haven’t started yet—I’ll probably have to be in the library all night working on it. No time to waste, you understand.”

With that, the Slytherins seemed to form a blockade around him, and they all disappeared into the dungeons.

Caecius and Claire didn’t ask any questions but, based on the sympathetic looks they sent her over the next few hours, they could guess the result of the siblings' conversation. Virgo’s mood stayed gloomy the rest of the night, refusing to budge even at seeing the Great Hall decked out for Halloween.

Draco sat facing away from the Ravenclaw table at dinner, something that he never did.

When the desserts had been served and eaten, and a group of unfamiliar ghosts that a third year girl said was called the Headless Hunt had streaked through the Great Hall, tossing their decapitated heads this way and that, the students of Hogwarts seemed to tire of the festivities in unison. The Great Hall filled with noise as benches scraped across the floor, and students flooded into the Entrance Hall to head back to the dormitories or the library. Virgo’s eyes followed Draco’s blond head up the marble staircase, and she wondered if she could catch him alone in the library, working on his essay.

She kept her eyes on him all the way up to the second-floor, but soon found herself distracted as the crowd in front of her slowed and grew silent. Virgo couldn’t see over the heads of the students ahead of her, but Caecius, who had more than six inches on her, had gone pale.

“ _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened_ ,” he recited in her ear. “ _Enemies—”_

“Enemies of the Heir, beware!” A familiar voice shouted gleefully. “You’ll be next, Mudbloods!”

Virgo suddenly knew she would not be speaking to Draco that night.

* * *

Footnote:

  1. I know what you're thinking, but I purposefully wrote keeper. I know that Cedric is a seeker in Prisoner of Azkaban, but Oliver Wood comments (Chap 9, Grim Defeat) “They’ve got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory,” which seems to imply that before that year Cedric played a different position, because he wouldn’t get the Captain spot if he was entirely new to the team. Back to Story



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Rubs hands together excitedly* Plot is happening!!
> 
> Writing this chapter helped me think through the intricacies of Lucius a little bit more, I hope that there's a little more depth to his character apparent here (even though he's still an asshole).
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Anonymous feedback [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo and Draco react to the writing on the wall slightly differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer wait on this one, work's been killing me again.

Draco’s vulgar pronouncement drew whispers from the crowd around Virgo, but the whispers soon quieted as someone else shouted down the corridor.

“What’s going on here? What’s going on?”

Argus Filch, the grumpy old caretaker, had appeared and was pushing aside the students to get to the middle of the corridor. As the students around her parted for Filch, Virgo was able to see what they were all gathered around.

The words that Caecius and Draco had recited were written on the wall between two windows in large, shaky letters. Next to it, a shape dangled from the torch on the wall, like some kind of bizarre trophy. It was the caretaker’s cat.

In front of the words were the three students that Virgo thought were most unlikely to be found next to a pronouncement related to Slytherin: the Gryffindor golden children, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter.

Filch did not seem to have the same opinion that Virgo had in regard to the Gryffindors being unlikely suspects. He seemed to think that Potter was the culprit, considering he was screaming that Potter was a cat murderer.

Virgo couldn’t see Draco anymore, but she guessed that he was highly amused by the whole thing. At least now that a staff member was there, he wouldn’t throw around any more slurs.

Caecius abruptly tugged Virgo closer to him. Virgo had just turned to question him about it when she identified the reason for his yanking: the headmaster and several other professors were sweeping through the crowd next to them. Dumbledore calmly took the cat down from the torch bracket and led Filch, the three Gryffindors, and the professors up the stairs and out of sight. Snape brought up the rear and gave the crowd a pointed death stare. The crowd immediately began to disperse.

The Ravenclaw contingent divided, as half proceeded directly to the library (now likely to research the Chamber of Secrets instead of their intended homework) and the rest climbed the same stairs that the professors had ascended, heading to the common room. Whispers buzzed through the crowd, but Virgo couldn’t hear any specifics of the conversations around her.

“The Chamber of Secrets, our first year?” Caecius murmured to her. Virgo nodded in commiseration. Any children raised in families like theirs knew the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, but it was one of a hundred stories that they had heard to demonstrate the genius and superiority of Slytherin. Nobody actually thought it was real. She certainly hadn’t.

“You know what it is?” Claire whispered to them. Virgo and Caecius nodded but refrained from explaining. It would have to wait until they were in the privacy of the dorm, where they could properly expand on the topic.

When the Ravenclaws entered the common room, Virgo was surprised to find the first-year boys climbing the stairs to their dorm. Typically, they all sat around the common room after dinner, but from the way Justin was ushering Liam upstairs with a sharp look at Virgo, she thought they must have taken offense to her brother’s shouted slurs. Again.

It figures, since offense was his intent, Virgo thought.

Caecius sighed, following the other boys with his eyes. “I’m sorry, I should head up. I doubt any of the others will know what it is, and Liam will want an explanation.”

Virgo nodded, understandingly. “Tell him—”

Caecius turned, quirking his eyebrow. “That Draco didn’t mean it?” he finished, dubiously.

Virgo huffed. She could no longer argue that. “That I don’t agree with what he said.”

Caecius softened. “Liam knows. Anyway, if this is real and not just a prank, we’ve got bigger fish to fry, now, don’t we?”

As Caecius turned and rushed up the stairs after his dormmates, Virgo was surprised to find the other girls of their year gathering around Claire and Virgo. Victoria didn’t look particularly happy to be doing so, but Virgo guessed that her desire for Virgo’s information had outweighed her anger at Draco’s comments.

“Come on,” Virgo muttered. “I’ll explain in the dorm.” She wanted her housemates to understand, but she didn’t think it was wise to reveal how much her family knew about the Chamber of Secrets to all of Ravenclaw.

The other girls followed her up the stairs and into the dorm room. Once the door was closed and they each were comfortable on the various beds, or in Luna’s case, perched on the windowsill, they all turned expectantly to Virgo.

“Alright,” she sighed. “The Chamber of Secrets.”

She paused, gathering her thoughts.

“We all know about the four founders, and what they stood for. But not everyone realizes that the four founders didn’t happily run the school together until their death. One of them ended up being ousted by the three others.”

“Slytherin,” Claire volunteered. She was sitting next to Virgo on her bed, her legs crossed underneath her robe as she listened avidly. Virgo nodded.

“Yeah. Slytherin was adamant that Hogwarts should be more selective of their students in regard to blood purity.”

“He didn’t want _mudbloods_ ,” Victoria scoffed pointedly from her own bed. Virgo wondered how much of Victoria’s holier than thou attitude was a result of actual righteousness and how much was an effort to live up to her last name. Maximillan Crowdy, the only Crowdy of prominence, had been the British Minister of Magic responsible for shutting down some pure-blood extremist groups in the late eighteenth century. Virgo wanted to tell Victoria that she could think for herself, and not just parrot the views of her ancestors, but she doubted that Victoria would believe that Virgo did the same.

Virgo feigned equanimity. “I have no idea whether that word was used at the time, but yes, he didn’t want to admit muggleborn students.”

“Why?” Claire asked. Victoria scoffed again. She was reclined on her own bed, not looking at any of the other girls as she instead twirled her wand in the air above her.

“Isn’t it obvious? Because of prejudice. _Pureblooded_ Salazar always viewed them as below him.”

Virgo frowned. “Well, there are other interpretations,” she hedged. “It’s true, he could have just been prejudiced, and thought purebloods were better than muggleborns. Of course, all the other founders were also pureblooded, so his blood status doesn’t tell us anything about his opinions. The other interpretation is that he was afraid of them. At the time, the magical community was much smaller than muggle society, and there were fewer wand sellers, which left many witches and wizards often defenseless, sharing one wand with their entire family. He could have just been scared that opening the school to muggleborns could open the school up to attack from their families, who had anti-magical prejudice.”

“What does this have to do with the Chamber of Secrets, though?” Esmerelda asked, hugging one of the posts of her bed with her arms.

“Well, whatever Salazar’s intentions or argument behind not wanting to admit muggleborn students, the other founders disagreed with him, and Salazar left the school. Whether he was kicked out or left voluntarily is another matter of debate. The legend of the Chamber of Secrets follows that he had secretly built a Chamber in the school, which housed a monster that only he could control.”

Virgo cleared her throat, and then continued. She hoped that she wasn’t revealing too much about her family with her next words.

“My parents always told it as if he had built the Chamber as a defense mechanism for the school—a monster he could release onto potential attackers if his fears came to fruition. But the way that _Hogwarts, A History_ described the legend made it sound like most people think he kept the monster as an offensive measure against muggleborn students.”

“An offensive measure?” Esmerelda repeated, a grimace written across her face.

“You mean an executioner,” Victoria guessed, as she rolled onto her side. “He wanted to kill all the muggleborns? That’s what this means?”

Virgo frowned. “I don’t know. That’s certainly what the words on the wall seem to threaten, don’t they? Even if maybe _Salazar_ had just intended to scare muggleborns away from the school, or defend the school from attacks, he’s not around anymore, is he? So, we have no idea what this—this supposed heir intends to do.”

The dorm room was quiet, as the girls all seemed to contemplate Virgo’s words, and the idea that someone in the school was either responsible for a vicious, frightening prank, or was intending to start a reign of terror against muggleborns.

Luna broke the silence with one word, which despite the dark atmosphere, was spoken with her typically musical delivery. “Supposed,” she repeated, looking out the window.

“What?” Virgo said.

Luna turned back to her. “You said _supposed_ heir. What do you mean by that?”

Virgo furrowed her brow. “Well, of course, there is no heir to Slytherin anymore—no one has had the Slytherin last name in centuries.”

Victoria snorted. “What does that matter? One of our classmates could still be his descendant, even if they don’t have his last name anymore.”

Virgo turned to Claire and Esmerelda, expecting to exchange surprised looks that Victoria didn’t understand, but instead their expressions mirrored Victoria’s bemusement. Virgo turned back to Victoria.

“Because in the magical world, the name is what’s important. Property is inherited through name, not through blood.”

“What?” Esmerelda asked, confused.

“Wait, I don’t understand the difference,” Claire interjected, scooting closer to Virgo. “Children—assuming they’re not adopted, I guess—get their parents’ last name and their blood.”

“No,” Virgo corrected gently. “They get both parents’ bloodline, but they only get one last name. Generally, the father’s, but if the mother is heir to a larger property, they could choose to give the children her last name instead. How haven’t you all heard about this? None of you are muggleborn.”

“You’re the only pureblood,” Claire pointed out. “And none of our families are as… well, as rich as yours.”

“My family’s doing just fine, thank you,” Victoria corrected, as she finally sat up and faced Virgo. “Money that, by the way, my mother inherited from her father— _after_ taking my father’s name. So, your theory doesn’t make sense.”

Virgo huffed. “It’s not a _theory_ , it’s the truth. Anyway, money is an entirely different matter. When the rules of inheritance were created, witches and wizards viewed wealth as a base matter, better suited for goblins and muggles, so wealth was free to be handed down to whomever the owner of the vault decided. _Property_ , on the other hand, was infused with the magic of the family, and was warded to only belong to the heir, and to be used by those the heir allowed.”

“Property? You mean like houses?” Esmerelda asked.

“Well, house,” Virgo corrected. “Singular. A family can only have one house as their family property—sure, they can buy other houses, but it will not be inherited, it won’t be infused with the family magic. Any additional houses are simply treated like wealth. For example, my mother was born a Black, right? But she’s a Malfoy now, so she could never be the Black heir. But we still use the Black summer house, in France, because it’s not the Black _property_ , it’s just a house, and her aunt wrote into her will with the goblins that my mother could use it.”

“When you say your mum is a Malfoy now,” Claire repeated slowly. “Do you mean that she could become the heir to the Malfoy property? Even though she’s not a Malfoy by blood?”

Virgo nodded. “Well, yes. She’s third in line, since it goes through the males first, so it’s unlikely. But yes, if my father and Draco died, or took another last name, my mother would inherit the property before I would, since she’s older. And if for some reason my father and Draco died, and I had already married and taken another last name, she would either have to adopt me back into the family, or adopt another heir, or bear another child in order to have an heir to the Malfoy property.”

“Adopt?” Victoria repeated. “Well, that’s the answer, isn’t it? Slytherin could have secretly adopted an heir.”

“ _Who would then have the Slytherin last name_ ,” Virgo ground out. “And it wouldn’t be _secret_ , all adoptions are reported—even back in Slytherin’s time, they were reported.”

“Well, that’s that, isn’t it?” Esmerelda announced, in a more jovial tone. “No one has the Slytherin name, so there’s no heir to Slytherin, so it must be a prank!”

“Someone still attacked that cat,” Victoria argued. For the first time since the start of the conversation, fear shown through her contrariness. “It’s a bit more than a prank.”

“Yeah,” Virgo agreed. Victoria looked surprised to have Virgo come to the same conclusion. “I suppose that’s why I’m confused. Any Slytherin would know the legend of the Chamber of Secrets and could write some words on a wall to freak everyone out. But attacking the cat—and I don’t think that cat was just stunned, so it’s dark magic. That’s serious. And the wording—they could have just written ‘ _Chamber of Secrets is opened, beware,_ or—er— _mudbloods beware_ , but they wrote _enemies of the heir beware_. So the writer thinks the heir exists, whether or not they believe they’re the true heir. It seems that the person who wrote it doesn’t understand the rules of inheritance in the same way you all didn’t.”

“What _is_ inherited by blood?” Luna pondered, her head tipped back against the stone.

The girls were silent for a moment as they brainstormed.

“Wealth,” Victoria offered. “Or, well, it can be.”

“Blood curses,” Virgo said, thinking about the Greengrass family.

“Creature inheritance,” Esmerelda stated, with a wry grin. “You know, like Virgo’s Veela blood.” Virgo rolled her eyes and shot Esmerelda a glare, but it was half-hearted. She was happy to have Esmerelda recover a bit of her spunk, now that the worst of the Chamber of Secrets myth was behind them.

“Physical characteristics,” Claire added, before Virgo could respond to Esmerelda’s dig.

None of them could think of anything else. Luna’s head was still tilted up to the ceiling, contemplating. “When is an heir not _the_ heir, and what would they inherit to allow them to enter the Chamber of Secrets when no one else has been able to?”

No one answered, but Virgo bet that the question continued to ring through their minds for the rest of the night.

* * *

“I thought I might see you today,” Rutherford greeted as Virgo approached his portrait early the next morning. “I swear, you only like me for my information.”

“You gave me an entire lecture two weeks ago on how portraits were originally intended to capture the oral history of a family,” Virgo commented wryly, as she sat down in front of his portrait on a stool she had stolen from a nearby classroom. “Ergo, you have no room to complain; I’m helping you fulfill your purpose.”

Rutherford harrumphed. After a month and a half of visits, Virgo was used to her ancestor’s irritable facade. She was sure he liked her visits more than even she did, but he liked to pretend to be doing her a favor every time he gave her any attention.

“Not that anyone remembers that fact nowadays,” Rutherford grumbled after a moment. “Only the best portrait masters properly emulate the portrait’s likeness, and only the old families remember to keep their portraits nearby to impart their recollections. Everyone just seems to think of portraits as for aesthetic benefit, now.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Virgo commented with a sly grin. “You’re not pretty enough to be just for show.”

Rutherford snorted, amused despite himself. “I don’t know why I even bother with you, young mistress.”

“Because I love you for your mind, clearly,” Virgo chirped with a grin. “Now, I gather that you heard?”

“About last night’s events? Indeed. Unfortunately, I’m unsure of how much information I can give you.”

“Why?” Virgo asked. “Did none of the other portraits see anything?”

“Nothing incriminating,” Rutherford sighed. “There aren’t any portraits in that corridor. Surely, some of the portraits must have seen the culprit, but none of them remember seeing anything out of the ordinary.”

Virgo pouted. She had woken up that morning with the startling realization that there might have been witnesses to the attack of Filch’s cat in the form of the portraits, and this mystery could be solved within the day. She did not anticipate there being no portraits in that corridor. “What do you think?” she asked Rutherford. “Could the Chamber of Secrets be real?”

Rutherford’s expression darkened, but whatever response he had was cut off when a few students turned into the hallway from the stairs. Virgo turned.

It was Justin Finch-Fletchley, accompanied by another boy in Hufflepuff robes, whom Virgo recalled was a Macmillan. They stopped abruptly when they saw Virgo.

“Oh, hello, Justin,” Virgo greeted. She always felt slightly uncomfortable when students heading up to the owlery interrupted her conversations with Rutherford, as it was far from usual behavior to have long chats with portraits. Still, Rutherford said that the armchair painted into his portrait was more comfortable than any other he had found and refused to talk to her from any other frame, so she would have to get used to being discovered talking to him.

Justin did not answer, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other as he visibly paled. Virgo’s brow furrowed.

“What are you doing up here, alone?” Macmillan demanded.

Virgo blushed. She was already insecure about spending so much time talking to portraits.

“Excuse me, young man,” Rutherford called authoritatively. “Just because I no longer have a corporeal existence doesn’t mean I don’t exist. Virgo is far from alone.”

Macmillan reddened slightly as he was called out by the portrait, but he continued.

“Load of good a _portrait_ is going to do against the heir of Slytherin,” he muttered. “But I guess you’re not afraid like the rest of us. Everyone knows that Malfoys are purebloods.”

Virgo prickled. She wasn’t afraid, now that he mentioned it, but that was due to the fact that she didn’t believe the threat. She wouldn’t be made to feel bad for using her brain.

“Aren’t _you_ pureblooded, too, Macmillan?” she asked pointedly.

He puffed up his chest importantly. “Well, sure,” he said. “But Macmillans have always stood by muggleborns. I’m in just as much danger as Justin, here.”

Justin, who still hadn’t spoken, and was now avoiding Virgo’s gaze, elbowed him. Virgo suddenly realized that he was mad at Ernie for reiterating his blood-status. As if Virgo was a threat.

Virgo slid off her stool. The boys didn’t seem likely to pass by her and give her and Rutherford privacy, so it seemed that they would have to finish their conversation another day.

“If the Chamber of Secrets were actually opened, you _wouldn’t_ be in danger,” she responded with an eyeroll. “Salazar Slytherin didn’t care about liberal purebloods, he just cared about keeping muggleborns out of Hogwarts. But, considering I’m sure that this is just some prat playing jokes, who knows if you’re one of their enemies or not. Either way, I’m sure they’ll be caught soon enough.”

She picked up her stool and swept past them, heading back down the stairs. At the last minute, she thought better of it, and turned back.

“Good to see you, Justin,” she called pointedly.

He still didn’t respond, and she took her leave.

* * *

The school seemed to buzz with accusations and theories about the Chamber of Secrets over the next few days. While there were no more attacks nor messages on the wall, no one could forget about it, what with having to pass by those words every day. The corridor in which the words were printed was one of the main thoroughfares of the castle, connecting the stairs up to the upper floors with the corridor to the library and the corridor down to the Great Hall.

Even worse than passing by the words was facing the caretaker’s accusing stare. Argus Filch had taken to watching the spot where his cat was attacked, sitting in a chair next to the scene of the crime or methodically pacing the corridor. Other than Potter, whom Filch was convinced was responsible for the attack, the caretaker had no specific suspects. Instead, he glared at everyone who passed by him as if they were all responsible.

“ _I_ feel guilty when I see him, and I didn’t even know what the Chamber of Secrets was until the other night,” Claire muttered to Virgo on one such trip past him.

In contrast to Filch, the rest of the school seemed to be sure who the culprit was, or at least, what house they belonged to. Slytherin house had always been fairly isolated, but now it seemed that any interhouse friendships had been put on hold, and Slytherins were only seen speaking to other Slytherins. Unfortunately, Virgo had been taken along for the ride. All the boys in her year other than Caecius had stopped associating with her, and even the housemates who had been eager to speak to her after the Quidditch match had stopped greeting her in the hallways.

Still, Virgo thought she was actually getting a fairly light shunning, comparatively. She and Claire were studying in the library a few days after the attack when they heard a harsh voice coming from the other side of some bookcases.

“What are you doing skulking about, Slytherin?” an unfamiliar girl’s voice asked.

There was silence for several moments. “I could ask you the same question, _Gryffindor_ ,” came the response.

Claire and Virgo both looked up. That was Abilene’s voice.

“Of course, since _I_ have basic deduction skills,” Abilene continued in her exacting tone, “I would assume that you are studying, this being the _library_ , and I needn’t ask.” Claire and Virgo both snickered.

Apparently, the Gryffindor girl didn’t have a response to that, as they didn’t hear anything other than a huff and stomping feet. A moment later, Abilene came around the corner, her cheeks slightly red, but otherwise unaffected.

“Are you alright?” Claire asked, grasping Abilene’s forearm comfortingly. Abilene looked at her in confusion.

Virgo snorted. There was something delightful about Claire asking Abilene, who was the most collected, unaffected person Virgo knew, whether she was alright. “We heard what that girl said,” Virgo explained briskly. “Have people been making a lot of comments to you about being a Slytherin?”

“Oh,” Abilene said. “Yeah, I suppose. Not that it’s too different from before. Most people have always looked suspiciously at a Slytherin hanging out alone; now they actually say what they’re thinking.”

Claire frowned. “That’s so ridiculous. You never would have done that to that cat.”

“You’re right,” Abilene responded, as she took out her Herbology textbook. “That was definitely more advanced magic than I know. It would be ridiculous to think a first year could do it.”

Virgo smothered a laugh again. Based on the sly look Abilene shot her, she had misinterpreted Claire’s statement on purpose. Claire didn’t seem to catch on that Abilene was joking, and instead seemed aghast that her friend actually thought the only reason she was an unlikely suspect was her magical knowledge.

“It could be worse, though,” Abilene continued more seriously. “At least most people don’t seem to recognize my last name or know what my father did. People like your brother are getting the worst of it, Virgo.”

Virgo had been pleased to see Abilene speaking openly about her parentage in front of Claire, but she was distracted by her last sentence. “What? Are people bullying Draco?” Virgo asked, appalled. This time, it was Claire and Abilene’s turn to snort.

“Bullying? No,” Abilene denied. “I don’t think anyone has _ever_ bullied your brother. Everyone is certainly suspicious of him, though. He’s been pretty vocal about being amused by this whole thing. Most of the house is weary of being associated with it, but Draco can’t stop talking about it. He seems to think that your father’s position will protect him.”

“That prat,” Virgo cursed. “Dumbledore can certainly make life harder for him and our father if he gets to thinking that Draco was the culprit.”

“Oh, relax,” Abilene muttered. “There haven’t been any more attacks, so it’s looking more and more like it was just a prank. And there were about two hundred witnesses to Draco being at the Halloween feast, so nobody could say that he was the one who wrote those words or attacked that cat.”

“Abi!” The girls looked up. Caecius was striding down the aisle towards their table, waving jauntily. “My favorite Slytherin, how I have missed the sight of you.”

Abilene had gotten used to Caecius’ sometimes over-the-top affection in the last two months, but she still rolled her eyes as he took the seat next to her. “I’ve told you not to call me that, Caecius. My name is Abilene.”

Caecius just grinned in response. When Abilene refused to rise to his teasing, he turned the grin on Claire instead. “And how are you this fine morning, Claireybeary?”

Claire huffed, but she had a small smile on her face as she turned the page of her Charms textbook. “I’m going to kill Roger for calling me that in front of you,” she commented idly.

“Aw, we all have nicknames that sound a bit ridiculous,” Caecius commented as he dropped his backpack next to his chair and began taking out his books. “My mom calls me Caeciepie.”

The three girls snorted. “It’s true,” Virgo confirmed. “Caecius got hurt at my house once playing Quidditch and I swear his mom didn’t call him anything other than Caeciepie for the next month. ‘Oh, Caeciepie, be careful; you better not get hurt, Caeciepie; do you want me to make lunch for you, my dear, sweet, baby Caeciepie?’”

Caecius shoved Virgo so that she had to grab onto the table to keep from falling off her chair. She grinned, unaffected, while Caecius rolled his eyes.

“I’ll take my mom’s nicknames and babying over the stiff way your parents speak to you,” he admitted. “ _Darling_ Virgo, dear, would you be so kind as to clean yourself up? We simply _can’t_ have anyone see you like that,” Caecius impersonated Narcissa’s posh drawl.

“Your parents don’t have any nicknames for you?” Claire asked Virgo.

Virgo shook her head. “Like Caecius said, my mother will call me ‘darling’ or ‘dear,’ but my name doesn’t lend itself to many nicknames.”

“Not even Caecius calls you anything other than Virgo, and he seems to butcher everyone’s name,” Abilene commented idly. Caecius scoffed in exaggerated offense while Abilene’s mouth quirked up at the corners.

“Guess I’ll always be just Virgo,” Virgo sighed. She thought about the warm tone that Draco used to call her Astraea, whispered like a caress, but quickly put it out of mind. Astraea was gone, Virgo was all she had.

“Luckily, just Virgo is just great,” Caecius grinned, as he stole her Charms notes.

* * *

Draco was late to meet Virgo the next afternoon. Every Friday, they had met in the Entrance Hall right at three o’clock for their weekly session of exploring the castle, but Draco didn’t climb the stairs out of the dungeons until twelve minutes past the hour this week. As much as she was hurt that he was so late, she let out a breath when she saw him, as she had become afraid that he wasn’t going to show up.

She hadn’t spoken to him since that Tuesday, when she had confronted him for attacking her housemates. The last few days, she had been guiltily thankful that she had hardly seen him around the castle, and therefore hadn’t needed to address recent events with him, but now she wondered if she hadn’t seen him because he was avoiding her as much as she was avoiding him.

“Hello, Virgo,” Draco greeted dully.

“Hi,” she whispered, swallowing. “Shall we try to find the kitchens, today? Or shall we walk the grounds, since it’s not too cold out?”

“I have an essay for Snape that I want to get started on this afternoon,” Draco explained. “I’d rather not go too far.”

“Kitchens it is,” Virgo decided with forced casualness. Draco never did any homework on Friday afternoon.

They set off down the stairs opposite the dungeons, where they had speculated the kitchens were hidden. They walked in silence for several meters.

“Are you… mad at me?” Virgo asked. She didn’t see how she could be the at-fault party in this situation, but even after all these years of study of her brother, she could never quite anticipate Draco’s reactions.

Draco sniffed. “It’s just clear that you’re more loyal to your housemates than me, these days,” he said blandly.

“It’s not a competition,” she responded. “I can be loyal to more than one person.”

“Not when you take their side when I’ve had a disagreement with them.”

Virgo stopped walking, and Draco halted so quickly that Virgo wondered if he was waiting for her to bring this up, to have it out with her. “You _attacked_ them. You called my friend a mudblood!”

“Yeah, and maybe I had my reasons!”

“Did you?”

Draco blushed slightly, and Virgo immediately knew that whatever reasons he had, he knew they weren’t going to win her over. “That’s not the point. You should have come to me, before believing anyone else’s stories.”

“I did come to you,” Virgo hissed. “The very next day. But you didn’t seem to regret it at all—”

“Why should I regret it? They certainly didn’t seem to, since Corner’s continued to say shite about my Quidditch skill—”

“Who cares about your Quidditch skills?” Virgo exploded. “You called my friend a slur, and then repeated it, after someone pulled a prank threatening all the muggleborns’ lives. You think that’s what Father wanted, when he asked us not to damage our family’s reputation?”

“You mean when he asked _you_ ,” Draco taunted. “When he asked _you_ not to associate with any mudbloods. Not that you’ve complied.”

“No muggleborns will even associate with me now, thanks to your behavior,” Virgo retorted. “Most of my house won’t even speak to me, like _I’m_ the heir of Slytherin.”

“You should be so lucky,” Draco scoffed. “And you’re welcome, by the way. I knew you wouldn’t respect Father’s wishes, so I helped it along. I knew your stupid friend Jamison would get insulted if I called him a mudblood and would keep his distance.”

“Oh, you’re saying you hexed my friends for _me_? That you’ve been running your mouth this week for _me_? Bollocks. That’s certainly not what Father was looking for.”

“Maybe it _was_ ,” Draco spat. “You said he had plans that would make life more difficult for mudbloods—maybe this was it. Maybe he knew the Chamber of Secrets would be opened.”

“The Chamber of Secrets _hasn’t_ been opened,” Virgo argued. “There’s no heir to Slytherin!”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I think Father knew something was going to happen at Hogwarts this year. The least you could do is help it happen.”

“You think Father wants to attack muggleborns?” Virgo whispered, aghast.

“You think he doesn’t?” Draco taunted.

Virgo went silent. She _didn’t_ think that. Her father was harsh and old-fashioned, and she didn't know what he had done as a Death Eater in the last war, but attacking children? Did Draco really think he was capable of that?

“Erm… excuse me.” Virgo and Draco whipped their heads around. Justin Finch-Fletchley was waiting to pass between them, with two girls also in Hufflepuff robes.

Draco scoffed. “Get away from me, mudblood.”

Virgo’s heart fell, as Justin’s jaw clenched, and the girls gasped. She didn’t wait around to hear if Justin responded. She certainly didn’t want to hear anything else out of her brother’s mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh angst, it comes back around. 😭
> 
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	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco plays some Quidditch, and Virgo researches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I read this entire story out loud to myself yesterday to help catch mistakes, and whoa hot dog there were a lot of typos and redundant phrasing the first few chapters. I'm glad you all stuck with me anyhow. Thanks again to the various commenters who have pointed out typos or inconsistencies to me-- here's to constant betterment!

“Would you stop fidgeting?” Esmerelda muttered, as they waited for the match to start the next Saturday.

Virgo froze her movements, flustered at being called out. She was sitting in between Caecius and Esmerelda in the front row of the Ravenclaw stands, waiting to watch her brother and his housemates take on the Gryffindor team.

In the last week since her fight with Draco, the rest of the school had begun to treat her more normally. She was unaware of whether Finch-Fletchley or the other two Hufflepuffs had told anyone about witnessing the tail end of the fight between the two siblings, or if the school had just settled slightly in the week and a half without an attack, or if her housemates simply noticed that the two Malfoys were no longer speaking. Whatever the reason, Virgo appreciated the she only had to weather one conflict at a time.

Even if that conflict was with the person she loved most, and she waffled constantly on whether she was the aggrieved party or not.

Despite not currently being on speaking terms with her brother, she found herself extremely invested in the outcome of his first Quidditch match. She knew how insecure he was about his Quidditch skills, not to mention how jealous he was of Potter’s success on the field, and she therefore prayed that it would go well for him.

“I don’t think Virgo was this nervous for _our_ match,” Caecius joked to Esmerelda from the other side of Virgo. With Claire and Abilene favoring the library over Quidditch, and Victoria sitting with her Gryffindor twin in his house’s stands, Virgo’s friend group was slashed in size. The other first-year boys had stopped outright avoiding her, but they still were sitting separately from Virgo and her friends.

“I wouldn’t say that,” a voice commented from behind them. The three first-years turned to find Cho and some of the other third-year girls in the row behind them. Cho smiled warmly at Virgo. “We all were quite nervy before our match. But that turned out fine, didn’t it?”

Virgo sighed. “I just know that Draco will be so disappointed if he doesn’t catch the Snitch. And I know that Potter’s supposed to be quite good.”

“He is,” Cho agreed. “I’ve never seen anyone look so natural on a broom. I wish I could have played him last year, but he was in the hospital wing for the match.”

“Hopefully he’ll refrain from getting knocked out before the match in the spring,” Marietta commented dryly. Cho laughed, but elbowed her chidingly. A small smile appeared on Marietta’s face.

“Oh look, they’re coming out,” Esmerelda said, and true to her words, the Slytherin team was striding out of their locker room. Around them, the Ravenclaw box booed and hissed, and it was echoed by the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stands. When the Gryffindor team strode out a moment later, the boos were replaced by cheers.

Virgo wondered if the houses would have had the same anti-Slytherin outlook without this Chamber of Secrets business.

As the captains shook hands and the players mounted their brooms, Virgo gave up not fidgeting. Her mother had long ago broken her of her nail-biting habit, but Virgo still held her hand close to her mouth, aching to bite on something. Draco looked so _small_ in comparison to all the upperclassmen on his team. Never mind losing, what if Draco got hurt?

Virgo needn’t have worried. As soon as Hooch’s whistle sounded and the players and balls shot into the air, it became apparent that one of the Bludgers was not a threat to Draco. Instead, it was following Potter like he was the only player on the field.

“What the hell?” Caecius muttered next to Virgo.

“You think Slytherin fixed it?” Marietta asked behind them. Virgo wrinkled her nose.

“Doubt it,” she answered. “Look how confused Bole and Derrick are.”

The Slytherin Beaters seemed unsure of what to do. Usually, the Beaters split up, each guarding one Bludger, but with one Bludger dedicated to following their opposition’s Seeker without any aid, their work was halved. Instead, they loitered around the Gryffindor chasers, pelting them with the remaining Bludger, while the Gryffindor Beaters focused on keeping their Seeker from being killed.

In no time at all, the Slytherin team had scored six goals. Meanwhile, the Gryffindor team, so focused on avoiding the Bludgers, had scored none. All the while, Draco circled above the commotion, smirking. Virgo knew that he would love it if Gryffindor didn’t get a single point.

Unsurprisingly, the Gryffindor team called a time out once their deficit grew by two more goals. If the game continued like this, it wouldn’t matter who caught the Snitch. Virgo wondered idly if her brother would enjoy it more if he beat Potter to the snitch or if Harry got knocked off his broom by a Bludger.

When the teams mounted their brooms again, it became clear that the Gryffindor team had decided on a different strategy: the Weasley twins were now ignoring the rogue Bludger, leaving Potter to deal with it himself. Virgo was able to see what Cho meant when she described Potter as a natural—even with the Bludger constantly on his tail, Potter rolled and twirled in a constant, graceful dance. Even Draco seemed impressed, given that his smirk had disappeared, and he had abandoned his search for the Snitch to follow Potter with his eyes.

While Potter dodged the Bludger, the Gryffindor Chasers were making a valiant effort at closing the score. With the four Beaters all concentrating on one Bludger, it was rare that the iron ball got remotely close to any of the Chasers. Without the Bludger to contend with, the Gryffindor Chasers demonstrated why they were known for being the best front line of any house. Virgo nervously took notes for their spring match-up, but the way the three girls moved together so seamlessly, it was hard to identify any weaknesses.

“Draco’s seen the Snitch!” Esmerelda exclaimed. It was true, Draco had torn his eyes away from watching his opponent and was streaking across the sky. Unfortunately, Potter followed, and the Bludger trailed.

“Oh, no,” Virgo groaned. Her nervousness had faded in the last twenty minutes, since neither Bludger had been remotely close to her brother all match, but now her worries returned with a vengeance. The Bludger was sticking so close to Potter, she wouldn’t be surprised if it hit Draco by accident, just by virtue of them being close together.

“I don’t believe it, Harry might pull it off,” Cho murmured. Even with the older Nimbus, Potter had caught up to Draco, and they were now neck-in-neck in pursuit of the Snitch. Draco’s face was set into an expression of concentration, focused on the small gold ball.

Potter appeared to be desperate to finish the match, as he took one arm off his broom earlier than Draco did, reaching for the Snitch. Draco, in a move of questionable legality, reached out as well—but instead of reaching for the snitch, he batted his opponent’s hand away. Potter appeared to lose balance and—

 _WHAM_.

The Bludger had finally completed its mission. With Potter off balance, he wasn’t able to avoid it, and it had made contact with his shoulder and upper arm. The Gryffindor Seeker reeled in pain, careening towards the ground. Suddenly without his rival, Draco was able to close the remaining distance and wrap his fingers around the Snitch.

The Slytherin Stands erupted in cheers. Around Virgo, her housemates groaned.

“Draco will be unbearable after this,” Caecius sighed into Virgo’s ear.

Virgo shoved him, but she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face.

Her brother had won.

* * *

The school was in such a state of pseudo mourning after Slytherin won the Quidditch match that Virgo didn’t realize right away that something else had happened. When she walked into the Great Hall with Claire and Esmerelda the next morning, and saw everyone’s glum faces, she had to hide her smile.

She wasn’t a Slytherin, but she couldn’t help but be smug that the rest of the school had clearly been so invested in her brother failing. But he hadn’t. Her lovely, stubborn, infuriatingly pig-headed brother had proved them all wrong, and shown that his Quidditch skills were more than just their family’s wealth.

But as soon as they sat down next to Aelius, Anthony, and Michael, she realized that everyone’s expressions were not just a result of the Quidditch match.

“Did you hear?” Anthony muttered without a word of greeting.

“Did we hear what?” Esmerelda asked, as she reached immediately for the bangers and mash.

“There was another attack last night,” Aelius murmured. The boys were speaking in lowered voices, as if speaking about the topic at a normal volume was disrespectful.

“What?” Virgo asked distantly.

“Yeah,” Michael chimed in. “Someone in your year—Creevey? Is that right?”

Esmerelda and Claire gasped. “Is he—is he alright?” Esmerelda asked tentatively.

“He’s not dead,” Anthony answered immediately. “Penelope said she heard from a Gryffindor prefect that he was petrified. You know, suspended animation.”

“Petrified?” Claire repeated distantly. “Was Madam Pomfrey—was she able to heal him?”

Aelius shook his head. “Petrification is serious,” he murmured. “It’s not like a Body-Bind Curse— _everything_ shuts down, when someone’s truly petrified. I remember my dad talking about it, saying it was something that he would never mess around with—for the joke shop, you know. Too much risk.”

“But, surely, there must be some way to fix him, right?” Esmerelda asked.

When none of the boys answered, Padma Patil leaned around Michael to answer. “There’s a potion,” she answered. “My sister told me that she heard from Hermione Granger that when Mrs. Norris was petrified, Dumbledore told Filch that there was a potion that would cure her.”

“I thought that cat was dead,” Claire commented. Virgo nodded vaguely. She now felt guilty that in the week and a half since the first attack, she hadn’t thought to ask after the cat’s fate.

“No, just petrified,” Padma answered. “Professor Sprout mentioned after class last week that it will take several months before the potion will be ready, though. It takes mandrakes, you see, and they’re really rare. Thank Merlin that Sprout had the good fortune to get some seedlings from one of her colleagues in Brazil at the beginning of this year.”

Their group went quiet, doubtlessly all thinking about Colin Creevey’s fate, stuck in a state of non-being for the next several months. It made Virgo shiver, just thinking about it. She wondered if he was conscious, unable to cry out or see or hear, or if he would just wake up when the potion was administered, none the wiser that he had missed out on several months of his life.

After a moment, Esmerelda spoke, in a tentative whisper. “Does anyone know…what blood status Creevey is?”

Virgo nodded. “Muggleborn,” she whispered.

Esmerelda and Claire looked at her. She knew what they were thinking.

She had been wrong. Even without a real heir, the Chamber of Secrets was indeed open.

* * *

By Monday morning, the news that Colin Creevey had been petrified had disseminated to every witch, wizard, ghost, and portrait of the castle. Virgo had thought the mood around the castle after Mrs. Norris’ attack had been terrible, but it was dwarfed by the new somber air. Whereas the students of the castle had reacted to Mrs. Norris’ attack with confusion and suspicion of the Slytherins, the overwhelming emotion after Colin’s petrification was fear.

Students were less concerned with figuring out who was responsible for the attacks as they were worried about making sure they weren’t the next victim.

It seemed that every muggleborn of the castle had enlisted two to five of their friends to accompany them everywhere. Not much had changed for Liam, as he was rarely seen without one of the other boys, but Melinda Stump told Esmerelda in Charms on Tuesday that there were three muggleborns out of the Hufflepuff first-years, and they had instituted a buddy system as soon as they found out about Colin’s attack.

The Gryffindor first-years were uncharacteristically quiet in Herbology on Wednesday. The seat that Colin usually sat in was left empty in tribute, even though it was closer to the gardening tools. Virgo noticed that Ginny Weasley was remarkably pale, even for her pasty complexion, and wondered if Weasley thought being a blood traitor would make her a target for the heir of Slytherin.

None of the other girls had referenced the conversation they all had had on the night of Mrs. Norris’ attack, but Virgo knew they were all thinking about it. She was decidedly uncertain about her conclusions. She _knew_ she was correct about the rules of magical inheritance and the absence of a true heir, but she could no longer argue that that meant the Chamber of Secrets could not be opened. The fact that Colin Creevey was a muggleborn supported the theory that whoever was responsible for opening the Chamber was indeed trying to eliminate muggleborns from Hogwarts, but Virgo couldn’t help but remain unconvinced. She wondered if perhaps Colin had simply upset the fake heir in some way.

As cold as it sounded, one data point was not enough for her to conclude anything. Only more attacks would reveal the attacker’s intentions.

The first chance that Virgo got, she managed to lose the group of other first-years to escape to the library to research. Even as a pureblood, Virgo had been chided by her classmates for going anywhere alone. The only way she was able to escape was by rushing through her shower after Quidditch practice, so that all her teammates were occupied with their own showers when she left.

The corridors were empty of students, despite it being the middle of the afternoon. While it had always been normal for the majority of students to return to their common room after classes, there used to be plenty of students walking the corridors, meeting up with friends in other houses. Now, no one loitered, always on a mission to reach their next destination.

Even the library was less full than Virgo was used to. She had her pick of tables, and settled at the one that she, Claire, and Abilene favored in the back corner to pull out her research journal.

_When did the Slytherin family become extinct?_

**Suggested Reading** : _Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy_

Virgo had had plenty of experience using the library card system in the last few months, given how many times she had tired of studying and instead spent her time in the library researching her own interests. She found the card for _Nature’s Nobility_ easily enough, and then set off for the History section. Most of her research whims led her to this section, and she found comfort in being in the far end of the library.

“Nine hundred twenty-nine,” she muttered to herself, as she scanned the last aisle of books, all classified above nine hundred of the Dewey Decimal System. Nine hundred twenty-nine was dedicated to genealogy, but Virgo was frustrated to find that the majority of the books on the shelf were not anthologies of British families, but instead guides to researching one’s own genealogy. She knelt, scanning the titles more carefully, but she could not find _Nature’s Nobility_ among the shelf.

“What are you looking for?”

Virgo startled, whipping her head around. Hermione Granger was eyeing her curiously.

“Nothing,” Virgo answered impulsively, shoving the card from the card catalog into her pocket. She suddenly realized how this would look—a Malfoy trying to find a book that described all the modern wizarding surnames and their histories. If anyone wanted to discover who was muggleborn and who wasn’t, they would be looking for this book.

Granger narrowed her eyes further. The two girls were silent for a moment as they eyed each other, and then Hermione spoke again. “Well, if you’re not looking for anything, I need to get to that section,” she declared self-importantly.

Virgo frowned. “And what are _you_ looking for?” she asked pointedly.

“Never you mind,” Granger sniffed. “Now, either take the book you’re _not_ looking for, or get out of my way.”

Virgo held her head high as she stood. Her eyes scanned the shelf one last time, but she could not find the book. It appeared that someone else had borrowed it, or else purposefully removed it from the library.

“I have just as much right to the library as you do, Granger,” she scoffed. But Virgo turned and stalked from the aisle, nonetheless.

She considered waiting for the Gryffindor girl to leave, but when she returned to her bookbag, she found herself steaming slightly with indignant frustration. Sighing, Virgo grabbed her knapsack and left.

Surprisingly, the corridor outside the library was not empty as it had been five minutes ago. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter had apparently been sitting on the bench across the corridor, but now stood, tense, next to the bench. A few meters away, Virgo’s brother faced off with them.

“I’m shocked, Malfoy,” Potter was mocking. “I thought you were too much of a coward to start something without your bodyguards around.”

“They probably finally got tired of him, like the rest of us have,” Weasley chimed in.

Draco sneered, as his cheeks reddened. “I fared just fine alone against you on Saturday, Potter. Or don’t you remember Slytherin crushing your team?”

“Someone fixed that Bludger,” Weasley spat. “In a fair match, Harry would have thrashed you.”

“Only losers make excuses, Weasley,” Draco jeered. “You should know; you must make excuses often enough—for being the least impressive of your pathetic family.”

Weasley drew his wand as Draco’s smirk widened. Virgo stepped forward. Even if Draco seemed unconcerned with the wand trained on him, she wasn’t going to let her brother get hexed.

“I wouldn’t, Weasley,” she announced as she strode to Draco’s side, drawing her wand on the redhead as she did so. Draco’s eyes flicked to her, his expression unreadable until he plastered a smirk back across his face.

Weasley scoffed. “Oh, I’m _so_ scared,” he mocked. “I remember what hexes we knew as a first-year—what, you going to put a Leg-Locker curse on me?”

“That’s the thing about Ravenclaws, Weasley,” Virgo declared. “We’re always ahead of the curriculum. You really want to test my knowledge?”

Potter looked uneasy. He pulled on his friend’s sleeve insistently. “Come on, Ron. I bet you _Lucius_ has been teaching them both dark spells since they were born. Better not test them.”

Draco snorted. “That’s right, Potter. Defer to your betters.”

Weasley’s face reddened further. “Why, you little— _rictu—_ ”

“ _Expelliarmus_!”

Virgo had beaten Weasley to the punch. His broken wand flew out of his hand to land against the stone bench behind him, as he reeled backwards.

“You’re in for it, Malfoy,” Potter warned Virgo. “Hexing another student?”

Virgo scoffed, heart beating quickly. “That’s something else we learned from our father,” she taunted. “How _not to get caught_. Weasley must have just dropped his wand. Come on, Draco.”

She pocketed her wand and then pulled on her brother’s sleeve. Contrary to her words, she’d rather not stick around to get caught by a Professor. Draco shot his rivals one last smirk as he allowed himself to be pulled down the hall. As they passed, Granger exited the library, a stack of books in her arms. Virgo could hear her hissing to her friends as they walked away.

“I leave you for _five minutes_ and you manage to get into a fight?”

Luckily, the trio of Gryffindors didn’t follow the two siblings. Once Draco and Virgo turned a corner, Draco looked behind them, saw the coast was clear, and pulled Virgo into an empty classroom.

Before she knew it, Virgo was being pulled into her brother’s embrace. Her arms automatically rose to wrap around his shoulders, even as she reeled at the show of affection.

“I missed you,” Draco murmured in her ear. Virgo's breath caught in her throat, and she squeezed him harder.

“Me too,” she whispered. She turned her head into his neck. He’d grown another inch since the beginning of the year. Now her nose was only level with his collarbone. She nuzzled into the small strip of skin she could reach above his robe.

The door had closed behind them, so the two siblings were left alone in the classroom, without portrait, student, or ghost to see them. It must have been for this reason that Draco didn’t let go. Virgo inhaled, suddenly teary. It had been so long since he had held her like this.

When Draco did move again, he still didn’t extricate himself from their hug. Instead, he shuffled them towards one of the desks, and slid into the chair, pulling Virgo into his lap. Virgo clung tighter to his shoulders, as he cradled her body in his arms.

“I’m sorry for hexing your friends,” Draco whispered at last. “And for… calling Jamison… _you know_. I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“I _don’t_ ,” Virgo admitted tearfully, hiding her face in the fabric of Draco’s robe. She knew her voice was muffled by her position, but she couldn’t bear to move. “It’s just that… my housemates do. Ravenclaw’s different than Slytherin, Draco. They don’t care about fear or respect. They care about rules and order. And the rule is that you don’t say that word.”

She felt Draco turn his head, so that his nose nuzzled into her hair.

“So, you’re just… embarrassed? Is that it?”

Virgo didn’t answer right away. Then she raised her head slightly, turning towards her brother’s face but not meeting his eyes. “Mostly. I’m mad that you didn’t think about how your actions would affect me,” she sighed. “I would never like—hex Pansy, or something, because I know she’d take it out on you, too. And, well…”

She stopped, trying to gather her thoughts.

“You should hear how my housemates talk about you,” she whispered at last. “Like you’re _unredeemable_. I just…I just want them to see you how I see you.”

“No one sees me the way you see me,” Draco whispered back. “And I could never let them. Can you imagine, how everyone could manipulate me, if they knew me like you did? If they knew… all my secrets like you do?”

Virgo finally met Draco’s eyes. “I know _all_ your secrets?” The days where they had lain in bed together, whispering their most secret thoughts were long gone.

Draco sighed, and pressed his forehead against hers. “You know more than anyone else.”

Virgo didn’t respond. She didn’t think it was normal to feel that that wasn’t good enough.

“You don’t need to show them all of you,” she said finally. “Just… enough to show that you’re more than … a bully.”

Draco pulled his head away from hers, although he kept his arms wrapped tightly around her. “And what would you have me do? Make nice with all the mudbloods? Shun the rest of the Slytherins? Befriend Potter and Weasley?”

“Obviously not,” Virgo scoffed. “You do remember who I just hexed, don’t you?”

Draco grinned at the memory, but he sobered quickly. “Then what?”

“Just… stop using that word around Ravenclaws. And don’t hex any of my friends.”

“Only the Ravenclaws? You didn’t react well when I said it to Finch-Fletchley, either.”

“That was in front of me, though. How would it have looked if I let it go?”

“Like I was more important to you than some random Hufflepuff,” Draco responded bitterly. His hold of Virgo loosened, so that she felt suddenly off balance.

“Anyone with _eyes_ can see that you’re more important to me than anyone else,” Virgo argued. “My housemates tease me about it all the time. You should have heard me on Saturday, when I was watching your match. They accused me of secretly rooting for Slytherin over Ravenclaw for the Quidditch Cup.”

Draco’s pout disappeared. “Yeah? You watched?”

“Of course, you prat. I wouldn’t have missed it. I was so proud of you. Your flying was brilliant.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Draco’s eyes glittered, and Virgo had to hide her face in his neck again to prevent him from seeing her blush. He tightened his arms around her. “You know you didn’t need to do that for me—hex Weasley, I mean. I had it under control.”

Virgo grinned. “Where else am I going to practice my hexes? You know Lockhart’s class is useless.”

Draco laughed. They sat in silence for a bit longer, but then Draco cleared his throat. “We should move—my arse is falling asleep. You want to go back to the library with me? I assume you must be drowning in Potions work without my tutelage.”

Virgo rolled her eyes, but caught Draco’s hands before he unwound them from her waist. “Just—just a bit longer, okay?”

Draco swallowed and stared at her, as Virgo’s heart hammered in her chest. But then he conceded. “Okay,” he murmured softly. “Just a bit longer.”

Virgo couldn’t help but notice that he held her a bit tighter after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *clutches chest dramatically* oh, these darlings. These two just want to love each other, but they need to work out some stuff before they do. I hope you liked the small return to their emotional intimacy, I know it's been hard in the last few chapters reading about the various fights.
> 
> Relatedly, I haven't said it in about ten chapters, but feel free to comment with what you don't like, or what's turning you off from the story in addition to what is keeping you coming back! Both are helpful, and will make me grow as a writer. I know I can't please everyone, but getting input and your thoughts can only have a net benefit 😊  
> If you don't like commenting, you can also give me feedback by filling out [this](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9) quick survey.
> 
> Come find me on tumblr: [luckywatersao3.tumblr.com](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo and Caecius learn more about the Chamber of Secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter (and all chapters, of course)-- everyone gave me some great feedback (and flattery 💅), and I so appreciate it. Also, can I say that I find it absurdly delightful when you all reply to each other's comments? It's amazing to me that I created a story that engages you so much that you read other people's comments (or maybe that's normal and I'm weird in that I rarely read comments on stories???). Anyway, love you all.
> 
> Also: You may notice that I stopped labelling the Chapters as "Prologue, Chapter One, Chapter Two..." and instead left them as Ao3's automatic "Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3..." because having every one labeled as "Chapter X: Chapter X-1" was bugging me. Anyway, a lot of you have written in your bookmark notes specific chapters, so this is your cue to check that I didn't mess your system up.
> 
> Finally, umpteenth reminder that you can turn off my custom formatting with the "Hide Creator's Style" button.

Virgo was so diverted by Draco’s return to affection that she neglected her research into Salazar Slytherin’s line over the next couple of weeks. The question in her research journal was soon forgotten, as she filled two more pages with queries about school assignments, whether the Bandon Banshee had ever really existed, and the history of fashion in the wizarding world.

It wasn’t until she received a letter from her mother the first week of December chiding Virgo for not writing home that she remembered her query. She quickly pulled out a piece of parchment and jotted out a note.

_3 rd December, 1992_

_Mother,_

_School is going well. I am really enjoying Charms class with Professor Flitwick, who is largely complimentary of my work. Draco still needs to help me with my Potions work regularly, but Professor Snape seems pleased with my progress. You can tell Father that I prefer him as a History professor infinitely more than Professor Binns, who completely botched his lecture on the 1263 Goblin War._

_There haven’t been any more Chamber of Secrets attacks in the last two weeks, but students are still frightened. Do we have a copy of Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy at the manor? I would appreciate it if you could send it to me, if you or Taruther find it._

_Excited to see you in just over a fortnight,_

_Virgo_

By the time that she had finished the letter, Archimedes had flown off and her friends were starting to gather their things to head to Herbology. Virgo had to stuff the parchment hurriedly into her bag to catch up with them.

After last period’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Virgo trudged up the stairs with the rest of her house. She had stayed up too late the night before working on an essay for Transfiguration, which continued to be her worst subject, and therefore had to force herself to not just return to the common room and collapse into an armchair. She envied the boys, who were discussing whether to spend the afternoon playing Gobstones or doing mocking readings of _Wanderings with Werewolves_.

“Oi, where do you think you’re going?” Caecius called after her when she started to separate from the group on the fourth floor.

“Owlery,” Virgo answered. “I don’t want to find out what Mother will do if I put off writing her any longer.”

“Not alone, you’re not,” Caecius declared, and waved goodbye to their housemates as he followed her down the hall.

“If this _heir_ is really trying to finish Salazar’s work, then I’m safe,” Virgo muttered to her best friend as they walked across the castle to West Tower.

“As you like to remind me nearly every day, this _heir_ could be anyone, and we don’t know what their intentions are,” Caecius responded. “Better safe than sorry, I say.”

“And you’re going to protect me against Slytherin’s monster?” Virgo teased.

“Me? Of course not. But after I feed you to the monster, I can get away and warn the rest of the school about it,” Caecius joked.

Virgo snorted and shoved her friend in response. Caecius grinned.

“Do you need to send a letter to your parents while you’re up here? Let them know you haven’t been attacked?” Virgo asked Caecius.

He winced. “I might not have told them about the Chamber yet?” he said sheepishly.

Virgo looked at him in shock. “Are you bonkers? Caecius, they’ll find out eventually! If there are any more attacks, the _Prophet_ will surely start to report it.”

Caecius shrugged. “I’m hoping that we can make it to Christmas without any more attacks, and then I can tell them in person. You know my mum—she’ll freak out, threaten to take me out of school. At least if I’m there when she finds out, I can calm her down.”

“What about your father?” They had reached the entrance of the owlery on the sixth floor. Virgo waved at Rutherford as they passed his portrait, unwilling to interrupt her conversation with Caecius to catch up with her ancestor.

“Who knows,” Caecius sighed. “He could react like most of the Slytherins, and think that I’m safe because of my blood, or he could want to keep me away from it to prevent association. I wouldn’t be surprised if he brings it up with my uncle at Christmas dinner, just to start another fight about how extremist blood purity politics are a danger to wizarding life.”

“Sounds delightful,” Virgo sympathized.

“Yeah,” Caecius shook his head warily. “At least Adriana and I both try to keep the peace at those dinners. Adolphus just starts more fights, siding with my dad about things, which of course Uncle Thelonius hates. And if Grandfather gets started, we won’t get off the subject for the rest of the meal. That man can _talk_.”

Virgo frowned to herself. It was strange, having all her grandparents dead, and her various aunts and uncles either estranged or imprisoned. As much as she was glad that she didn’t need to deal with such complicated family drama as Caecius did at holidays, she wondered how her mother and father would have acted around their own parents. She had rarely seen Lucius speak to Abraxas or Lorena’s portraits, and Narcissa could no longer access the Black property to speak to her own parents’ portraits. She wondered if her grandparents would agree with all the decisions her parents had made in the decades after their deaths, or if her mother and father differed in opinion with their parents as much as Virgo found herself diverging from her own.

“Do you see Aquila?” Virgo asked Caecius as they emerged into the owlery. She searched the rafters for the eagle owl, but at this time of day, the room was packed with owls, and finding one bird amongst the hundreds was quite difficult.

Caecius whistled, short and melodic. Immediately, Aquila appeared from the pack, and flew down to land on Caecius’ shoulder.

Virgo shook her head in amazement. “I don’t know how you do that,” she mumbled, attaching her letter to Aquila’s leg as Caecius pet her feathers.

“Not my fault that even animals recognize that I’m nicer than you,” Caecius teased.

Virgo rolled her eyes, hiding her smile from her best friend by beckoning Aquila over to one of the openings in the roof. It was better if Caecius didn’t realize how amusing she found his light-hearted jeers were, or he’d never stop. Even Draco didn’t tease Virgo as much as Caecius did.

“To Mother,” she ordered, and Aquila sailed off into the sky. A gust of wind blew through the owlery after Aquila flew off, and Virgo shivered. Draco hadn’t been lying about how cold Hogwarts got in the winter. She had half a mind to start wearing her winter cloak to all her classes.

She and Caecius quickly descended from the owlery, eager to get out of the wind. They were enjoying a companionable silence when they passed Rutherford, who now called out to Virgo.

“I hear that there haven’t been any more attacks by Slytherin’s monster in the last two weeks?”

Virgo stopped, smiling tightly in greeting. As curious as she was about the whole Chamber of Secrets enterprise, she had tired of the constant small-talk about it, repeating the facts ad infinitum. “Nope. And the Mandrake Restoration Potion won’t be ready for months.”

Rutherford clicked his tongue. “Yes, that’s what I suspected. It was the same last time, but I had hoped that perhaps there had been advancements in that particular potion in the last fifty years.”

Virgo and Caecius looked at each other in confusion. “Last time?”

Rutherford nodded bemusedly. “Yes. Hasn’t anyone said? The Chamber of Secrets was last opened fifty years ago.”

The hallway was silent and still for several moments as the sentence seemed to simmer in the air. Then, Virgo spoke with determination. “Rutherford, I need you to tell us everything you remember about the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened.”

* * *

Virgo and Caecius were silent on the way back to Ravenclaw tower, undoubtedly each sorting through the new information in their minds. The trip to the owlery had taken much longer than either of them had anticipated, as a result of their detour-turned-lecture with Rutherford. When they entered the common room, Aelius and Esmerelda were having a booming debate about their predictions for the British and Irish Quidditch League, and Virgo and Caecius were immediately suckered into giving their two knuts. By the time the debate was tabled, Jordan was complaining of hunger, and the first years all relented to his demands to go down to dinner.

Therefore, it wasn’t until the next day that Caecius and Virgo got a chance to discuss their findings in private. By unspoken agreement, they had both decided to not share the information that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened at least once before with the rest of their housemates. It would only cause panic, and they still didn’t know if the two openings had been initiated by the same person, or by a person with similar motives.

It was Caecius who found them the privacy necessary for the conversation. “Virgo, fancy a flight?” he asked as the first-years were making the familiar trek up the spiral staircase after last period.

Virgo barely managed to refrain from giving her best friend a flabbergasted look. The temperature had dropped even further the night before, and a mix of snow and hail was pouring out of the sky at the moment. But Caecius’ eyes were drilling pointedly into Virgo’s, so she suspected that he did not actually intend for them to step foot onto the Quidditch pitch.

“Alright,” she said slowly. “But I’ll have to grab a few more layers. Meet in the common room in five?”

Esmerelda spent the entire time that Virgo was in her trunk, changing, accusing her of secretly having a crush on Caecius, as Esmerelda thought there could be no other reason to acquiesce to his request to fly in this weather. Virgo refrained from replying, as Esmerelda’s words meant that at least she believed their alibi.

Caecius was waiting for her when she appeared back in the common room in full Quidditch leathers, her winter cloak, scarf, hat, and gloves. Caecius was similarly dressed. “Come on,” he muttered, and dragged her from the common room.

They did not speak as they descended the stairs, as there was a group of fourth year girls in front of them, apparently headed to the library. When they reached the fourth floor, Virgo tugged Caecius away from the stairwell. “There’s an empty storage room Draco and I found a few weeks ago this way,” she whispered.

The room was as she remembered, with old desks and chairs piled against the walls. Virgo pulled one of the chairs out into the empty space in the center of the room, and Caecius followed suit. He stripped off his outer layers before settling in, his feet propped up on an upturned wastepaper basket.

“So,” Virgo declared once Caecius had gotten comfortable. “What do you reckon?”

“Why, in the entire time that our parents were waxing poetic about Slytherin and his Chamber of Secrets, did no one mention that it had been opened in the last century?” Caecius exclaimed.

Virgo shrugged. “I’ll do you one better: why hasn’t anyone mentioned the old culprit being questioned, if Rutherford said they found the person responsible?”

Caecius nodded but continued the stream of unanswered questions. “Why, in the thousand years of Hogwarts history, has the Chamber of Secrets been only opened twice, and just fifty years apart?”

“Rutherford _did_ say there have been suspicious attacks of Muggleborns that could have been by Slytherin’s monster, they just were never claimed by the heir. But why has Dumbledore not informed all the parents and sent us all home, if they know that the Chamber is potentially deadly?”

“Or the muggleborns, at least,” Caecius said. “Also, why haven’t they asked the people that were petrified fifty years ago who or what attacked them?”

“You’d really think they would have taken care of the monster fifty years ago, before deciding to reopen the school for another year. Another thing—why were most of the victims petrified, and only one died?”

“Grand finale?” Caecius guessed. “We’re in agreement that the two openings need to be related, yeah?”

Virgo frowned. “Well, they certainly need to have something in common—the castle has been searched for the Chamber for centuries, something needs to be different about the person or persons behind the openings to have allowed them to find it.”

“Or the first person just told the second person how.”

“But, why the language of the ‘heir?’ It implies that blood or family is involved somehow.”

“Not everyone is as obsessed with the specifications of lineage as you are, Virgo,” Caecius sighed. “Maybe they just mean heir in the common way—inheriting the mission.”

“They’re clearly status-oriented, though,” Virgo pondered. “They wrote the writing on the wall to take credit, to declare themselves the heir. And if they continue the mission of last time, they’re aiming to purify Hogwarts of muggleborns. Who else but a pureblood, someone knowledgeable about the rules of inheritance, would want that?”

Caecius didn’t respond. “You know what I can’t stop thinking about?” he whispered after a minute.

Virgo shook her head. Caecius’ eyes met hers momentarily and then darted away.

“My grandfather had his sixty-sixth birthday this summer. He was at Hogwarts fifty years ago, and he was a Slytherin besides. He _must_ have known the culprit.”

“Seems like you’re assuming the culprit was a Slytherin,” Virgo pointed out.

“Yeah, I am,” Caecius sighed. “I hate that all the Slytherins get lumped together, for Abi’s sake especially, but come on. It must be, don’t you think?”

Virgo bit her lip as she considered. “If the agenda is like last time, then it must be a pureblood, and most of the extremist purebloods are in Slytherin, it’s true. And…”

She trailed off. As much as she didn’t want to typecast all the Slytherins, it wasn’t a bad place to start for suspects, was it? It was _Slytherin’s_ heir. Based on what she knew of him, Salazar would have wanted any of his blood relatives to sort into his own house.

“Do you know any of the people your grandfather went to school with?” she asked carefully.

Caecius sighed. “I’ve been trying to think,” he admitted. “He’s definitely told stories about Hogwarts, but when he starts telling his stories, I sometimes tune him out. And, well—”

He looked towards the door, as if to confirm that no one was in the room with them.

“Most of his oldest friends were Death Eaters, so I don’t know how many of them he went to school with and how many he became friends with while—while they were doing what Death Eaters do.”

“Makes sense,” Virgo admitted. “But the Death Eaters aren’t a bad place to start with suspects, you know. They’d certainly all be fans of purifying Hogwarts.”

Caecius nodded. “Grandfather’s talked about a Lestrange before, I know.”

Virgo shook her head. “Died during the first war—and his sons are both in Azkaban.”

“Mulciber, I think?”

“Azkaban,” Virgo answered. “For the Imperius Curse.”

Caecius pursed his lips as he thought, but then his eyes lit up. “Nott? Grandfather’s definitely talked about him before.”

“You mean Theo’s dad?” Virgo asked. “I knew he was older than our parents, but I didn’t realize he was as old as your grandfather.”

“Maybe he was a few years behind him, but he still would have been at Hogwarts when it was happening,” Caecius said. “You think… Theo?”

“He’s always been so quiet,” Virgo murmured. “Draco has called him creepy, but you know Draco—he doesn’t mean anything by half his insults. I don’t know Theo well enough to say.”

Caecius hummed indistinctly. “So maybe Nott senior found the Chamber while he was at school, and opened it, and… found a scapegoat? Surely we would know if _he_ was the one that they caught and expelled.”

“Mr. Nott’s definitely got a wand, so he wasn’t expelled,” Virgo mused. “And I have a hard time believing that he would have gotten away with claiming the Imperius curse after the war if he had already gotten caught setting Slytherin’s monster on muggleborns.”

“Frankly, I can’t believe any of them got away with claiming to have been Imperiused,” Caecius muttered. “Just based on their word?”

“I’ve wondered if Mulciber took the blame for it—said he was the one who performed the spell,” Virgo mused. “If he was already going to Azkaban for a life sentence, I could see Father paying him off to back up his alibi.”

“Grandfather and Uncle Thelonious wouldn’t have been able to afford that, though.”

Virgo shrugged vaguely. As much as she didn’t like thinking about what her father must have done during the war, she wanted to understand what had happened, what he had done to get his freedom. She was starting to realize that it might have happened over a decade ago, but it was still affecting her.

“So, Mr. Nott finds a scapegoat for the first time, and then he teaches Theo how to open the Chamber?” she theorized.

“That would explain the connection,” Caecius sighed. “Because the only way that the culprit could be one person would be if they’d been around for over fifty years, and none of the professors are old enough to have been teaching here that long—except Dumbledore, and obviously it’s not him.”

“And Binns,” Virgo mused, and then promptly burst into giggles with Caecius at the idea of the old ghost being responsible.

“Yeah, maybe there’s no Slytherin Monster, and Binns just bores people to death—or to petrification,” Caecius joked.

Virgo snorted, and then sobered abruptly. Both of them seemed to realize in unison that they were joking about something that could potentially kill their classmates, and they fell silent for several moments as the moment passed.

“Should we tell someone about our suspicions about Nott?” Caecius asked at last.

“Someone else _must_ have made the connection,” Virgo exclaimed. “Like you said, Dumbledore was here fifty years ago, he must remember what students were present for it.”

“Just like he _must_ realize that all the muggleborns are in danger, and _must_ have thought about informing all of our parents, and _must_ have questioned the person found responsible fifty years ago?” Caecius grumbled.

“Fair,” Virgo admitted. “But if we’re wrong—we can’t accuse Nott without proof. Can you imagine if the Slytherins found out?”

“Can you imagine if Nott killed a muggleborn and we hadn’t done anything about our suspicions?”

Virgo bit her lip. “So, we find proof, and then tell someone,” she declared at last.

Caecius sighed. “Alright.” He then seemed to debate something. “Look—I know you and Draco are close, and you try not to keep things from him—”

“I’m not going to tell Draco,” Virgo interrupted. “For all I know, if he found out Nott was responsible, he’d try to _help_ him.”

“Yeah,” Caecius agreed. “I know you don’t like to hear it, but your brother is really a piece of—”

“ _Don’t_ ,” Virgo grumbled, and Caecius said no more.

* * *

Caecius and Virgo initiated their plan immediately. By the time they left the fourth-floor classroom (and then had run up and down the stairs for ten minutes to get sufficiently sweaty to support their alibi), they had determined what they were going to do. Virgo would stake out the Slytherin common room under the guise of spending more time with Draco, and Caecius would begin spending all his free time in the library, where Nott often went after classes.

Draco seemed utterly unphased by Virgo suddenly sticking to his side at every free moment. Saturday morning, when Virgo spotted Nott sitting across from Draco at the Slytherin table, Draco only shoved Vincent over to make room for her and greeted Virgo with a smile as she slid into the empty spot.

“We think alike, little sister,” Draco drawled. “I’ve got a History of Magic essay due on Monday that I could use your swottiness for.”

Virgo groaned. “I’ve got an exam in Transfiguration on Monday to revise for, Draco, and you know I’m dreadful at it,” she whined. “I might not have time to help you research.”

“Dreadful is a little much,” Draco commented. “Anyway, we can figure something out. Nott, you were second in the year in Transfiguration, weren’t you? Could you help Virgo study?”

Virgo could hardly believe her luck. She thought she’d have to work to keep her eye on Nott. Theo looked up from the Daily Prophet with one eyebrow raised at Draco. “What will you give me for the service?” he asked Virgo’s brother.

Draco bumped shoulders with Virgo as if to say _watch and learn_. Virgo just continued to serve herself hash and eggs. “What do you want?”

Theo chewed contemplatively. “Your chess set,” he said at last.

Draco scoffed. “My _priceless_ chess set, passed down from generation to generation of Malfoys? No, my father would kill me.”

Virgo hid her smile behind her teacup. Technically, Draco wasn’t lying. Since Draco hadn’t bought the chess set, he couldn’t know the price, and therefore could claim it was priceless, and the chess set _had_ been passed down generation to generation—their father to him, to be specific, after Lucius had bought it two years ago for Draco’s birthday.

Theo did not pick up on the embellishment, as he had moved on to his next request. “Fine. Your collection of Chocolate Frog Cards.”

Draco wrinkled his nose. “We are discussing just one afternoon of tutoring, aren’t we? I really don’t think that a _complete_ collection of the original one hundred and one cards is a fair trade.”

Theo’s next offer was drowned out by the post, as the Great Hall was suddenly deafened by the sound of wings, squawks, and movement of students retrieving their letters and packages. Virgo was surprised to find several owls land around them, including both Aquila and Archimedes. The latter bird held out his talon to her, and Virgo unrolled it quickly.

_6 th December, 1992_

_Dear Virgo,_

_I am glad to hear that you are doing well in your classes, and moreover that your brother is continuing to assist you. I hope that he is still finding time to revise for his own classes._

_I passed on your compliment to your father, but I would remind you that he also takes owls directly._

_Unfortunately, I was unable to find Nature’s Nobility in our library, although I am unsure of what you could require it for. You are keeping your head down, regarding recent events, aren’t you?_

_I have more bad news, darling. Due to unforeseen circumstances, you and Draco will have to stay at Hogwarts for winter break. Please know that I miss you dearly, and will aim to send you plenty of Christmas presents to make the holiday seem as normal as possible, but the decision is made._

_Love,_

_Mother_

“Oi, Draco,” Theo interjected. Virgo looked up from the letter to find Draco reading his own, his weekly parcel of sweets open in front of him. “I have another offer—the lot of these candies, for two hours of tutoring.”

“Huh?” Draco mumbled vaguely. He took a minute to look up, and then seemed to tune back in. “Oh right. I suppose that’s fair, Nott. Knock yourself out.” He pushed the package across the table, but then turned towards Virgo. “Can you believe it?” he hissed.

“Christmas at Hogwarts, I know,” Virgo whispered. “We’ll be practically the only ones left.”

“Not just that,” Draco muttered back. “The _raid_.”

“What?” Virgo said.

Draco furrowed his brow. “They didn’t tell you? Come on, trade.” He quickly stole their mother’s letter out of Virgo’s hand, and shoved his own into her grip. Unlike her, Draco had gotten a letter from both their parents.

_6 th December, 1992_

_Draco,_

_I hope you like the enclosed chocolates—I made a trip to Paris this past weekend and made sure to pick up some bonbons from your favorite patisserie._

_I hope the chocolates will soften this news: You and your sister will have to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas break. I know you love Christmas at the manor, and believe me when I say that I wish that circumstances were different, but it is not in the tealeaves for you to return home this year. Your father will explain more. I suspect that the Crabbes and Goyles may be in a similar situation, so you may be able to convince your friends to stay with you. Otherwise, at least you will have your sister by your side, as I’m sure the castle will be even more empty than normal this year._

_Mother_

_6 th December, 1992_

_Draco,_

_I have received word from one of my contacts at the Ministry that our Manor will finally be raided by Weasley and his pitiful department. The raid is scheduled for next week. I don’t anticipate them finding the bulk of our collection, but their visit and its news will still make things difficult for our family, and the raid will undoubtedly disturb the normal workings of the manor. For that reason, your mother and I have decided that it would be better for you and your sister to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays._

_I know you may seek payback from the Weasley kin for this, but I must remind you of your promise to keep your head down and out of trouble this year. I already have a counterattack in place to discredit the Weasley buffoon, and therefore I would be very disappointed if you ruined it for me._

_Your Father,_

_Lucius Malfoy_

“As if we didn’t have anything else to worry about right now,” Virgo muttered darkly as she finished reading her father’s letter.

Draco laid his hand comfortingly over her thigh underneath the table. “Father will figure this out,” he promised in a lowered tone. “Malfoys always come through.”

“Yeah, but in the meantime, as soon as the raid is reported in the _Prophet_ , our name will be dragged through the mud again. My housemates are just starting to treat me normally again, after…”

Virgo trailed off. Draco wouldn’t react well to her speaking candidly.

“Guess you’ll just have to stick close to me until it passes,” Draco commented brightly. “Anyway, what’s this about this _Nature’s Nobility_ book?”

“You know me, always researching some random topic,” Virgo fibbed. She shoved their mother’s note into her bag, so as not to show Draco her face. “Pass me the toast, would you, Daphne?”

Thankfully, Draco did not comment on her evasiveness. “Strange, though, isn’t it?” he muttered instead, as he stole a piece of toast from the platter Daphne passed down the table. “A book that the Manor library doesn’t have? I thought we had one of the best collections of Wizarding Britain.”

Virgo stared at her brother. She had blindly trusted her mother’s proclamation, but now that she thought about it, that _was_ strange. Had her mother lied? Was she purposefully keeping Virgo from her research?

“Delicious. Thanks, Draco,” Theo exclaimed, as he licked his fingers of the remnants of chocolate. Virgo wrinkled her nose. With chocolate smeared across his cheek, Nott didn’t look much like the heir of Slytherin, but he was the best guess that she and Caecius had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr [here](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Feedback form [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo and Caecius question their assumptions about the Heir of Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience! Enjoy :)

“You’ve been staring at Theo quite a lot, recently,” Daphne teased a week later in the Slytherin common room. Virgo startled from where she had, indeed, been staring at Nott. She had been wondering yet again whether she and Caecius were doing the right thing following him and had forgotten to hide her staring. Thankfully, Theo did not hear Daphne’s comment, nor had he noticed her watching him.

Unfortunately, Draco had. He looked up from where he was attempting to teach Goyle the differences between the most common potion bases, and gaped. “What—she has _not_ ,” he declared, darting his eyes between Daphne and Virgo.

“She has, actually,” Abilene commented, although she did not look up from where she was editing her own Potions essay. Virgo had been spending so much time in the Slytherin common room recently that Abilene had become friendly with the second-years by association. Today, Abilene was taking advantage of Draco’s impromptu Potions lecture as free tutoring. “I assumed she had a crush or something. Although I don’t know _why_ she would.”

“Theo’s no _Lockhart_ , certainly,” Daphne teased Abilene with a smirk, “but he’s cute enough, if you like quiet boys.” Abilene’s cheeks had reddened slightly at mention of Professor Lockhart.

“I forgot you fancied Lockhart,” Virgo groaned at Abilene. “How does someone as smart as you not see what a twit he is?”

“Virgo doesn’t—you don’t—a crush?” Draco stammered. Virgo rolled her eyes and smacked Draco’s shoulder. Her brother was an idiot, sometimes. How could she have a crush on anyone else when she was so obsessed with him? And also, what was he thinking, going apoplectic over his sister having a crush? Did he really want people to wonder about the dynamics of their relationship?

“Obviously not _really_ ,” she deadpanned. “Daphne’s just teasing, you should know that.”

“Theo’s alright,” Greg declared without looking up. “If you had a crush on him, Virgo, it would be okay by me. Even though I’m still mad you gave him all your chocolates last week, Draco. You know I love those French candies.”

Virgo snickered, although she filed away the information, nevertheless. Theo was looking less and less like the creepy loner Draco had always described. “Thanks for your approval, Greg, even though it’s unnecessary.”

“’Course,” he grinned as he finally looked up to meet her eyes. “Plus, Theo could never take me and Vince in a fight, so if he ever did anything to you, we could set him straight in no time.”

Crabbe, who Virgo hadn’t been sure was listening, cracked his knuckles, as if to demonstrate to the group that he was always ready for such a fight. Virgo felt surprisingly charmed.

“Virgo does _not_ have a crush on Nott,” Draco declared.

Daphne snorted. “Oh, relax, Draco, I _was_ just teasing. But Virgo’s getting older—before you know it, she will have a crush on someone, and you’ll have to get over yourself and let her. You can’t always be a protective older brother.”

Virgo and Draco met eyes for a moment, but they both quickly looked away and changed the subject.

* * *

It was difficult for Caecius and Virgo to get time alone to discuss their surveillance of Nott. Virgo didn’t realize just how many friends the two of them had made until they were trying to escape them.

Liam and Caecius had gotten closer than Virgo had appreciated. Many days, Liam accompanied Caecius to the library after classes, as a show of moral support. Caecius told Virgo that every day when Nott finished his studying, Caecius waffled on whether he should abruptly end his studying to follow Nott or stay with his muggleborn friend. Apart from a few days that he excused himself to the bathroom and followed Nott back to the Slytherin common room, he stayed with Liam.

Claire, too, was conspicuously hurt when Caecius and Virgo tried to escape to debrief. She had come out of her shell more with the other Ravenclaws, but she was still undoubtedly closest with Caecius and Virgo. Every time that the two made an excuse to separate themselves to touch base, Virgo remembered the conversation she’d had with Claire and Abilene at the beginning of the year, in which they referred to Caecius and Virgo’s history as a club they’d never be a part of.

Luckily, now three months into the year, most Charms classes were filled with practice of charms they learned, and therefore allowed for some time to chat, without abandoning their friends. Today, they were practicing the mending charm, which meant that the classroom was filled with the sounds of various glass objects forming and breaking again, in addition to their classmates calls of “ _reparo_!”

“I’m telling you, Nott should have sorted Ravenclaw,” Caecius muttered as he pretended to wave his wand at the pieces of a Christmas ornament on the table in front of him. “Every day, it seems he goes right from classes to the library to revise, and only returns to the common room to get ready for dinner.”

“Where he then studies more after dinner,” Virgo agreed. “ _Reparo_!”

The cracked vase in front of her coalesced until the glass was clear and whole again. “Good job, Ms. Malfoy,” Professor Flitwick called from a few desks over, where he was talking Victoria through repairing several wine glasses at once.

Virgo smiled at her professor, but once he pulled his attention back to Victoria, she turned to Caecius. “You don’t think he’s caught you following him, do you?”

Caecius shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how he manages to get back to the common room safely; he’s always got his nose in a book.”

“It’s looking quite like we’re wrong, doesn’t it?” Virgo murmured after a minute.

Caecius frowned. “Until there’s another attack, we can’t prove he’s innocent. I suppose he _could_ be just lying low right now.”

“Yeah—oh, Flitwick’s looking this direction,” Virgo whispered, nudging her friend.

Caecius immediately began waving his wand again, and successfully repaired the ornament in front of him. Flitwick smiled at the pair of them and returned to meandering around the classroom.

“On the bright side, your marks have improved since you’ve started spending so much time in the library,” Virgo said with a grin, nodding at the repaired ornament.

Caecius snorted. “My marks weren’t bad before, thanks. When this is all over, I’m not going to set foot in the library for a month.”

The rest of the lesson went quickly, as Flitwick soon brought out porcelain dishes for them to practice repairing as well. Twenty minutes later, when the bell rang for lunch, Virgo felt much more confident with the charm.

“Mr. Avery, if you could stay after,” Professor Flitwick called as the rest of the students packed up their belongings. Virgo and Caecius looked at each other. Perhaps their professor _had_ noticed their chatting during the lesson and was going to scold Caecius for forgoing the practice.

Virgo waved the rest of their friends ahead. She couldn’t let Caecius face their head of house’s scolding alone.

“Ms. Malfoy, you may wait outside,” their Professor declared gently as the classroom emptied. Virgo knocked her shoulder into Caecius’ in solidarity.

“Respectfully, Professor, anything you tell off Caecius for, you’ll have to scold me for as well.”

Caecius made a small noise of censure at her frank declaration, but then found his voice. “Whatever you have to say, Professor, you can say in front of Virgo. None of us like being alone, what with the Chamber of Secrets…”

Flitwick smiled crookedly. “I never said I was going to scold Mr. Avery, Virgo. But alright, Caecius. It’s actually the Chamber of Secrets that I wanted to talk to you about.”

Virgo and Caecius exchanged glances. Flitwick didn’t seem to notice, as he was hefting himself onto the raised chair that allowed him to sit comfortably at the desk.

“It seems that half the students at this school fancy themselves amateur detectives, these days. I can’t say I blame them, what with the gravity of—anyway.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if either of you are aware, but this is not the first time that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened.”

They nodded. “Fifty years ago, yes,” Caecius answered quietly.

Flitwick nodded. He didn’t seem surprised that they had found out. “Yes, fifty years ago. Hogwarts naturally tried to keep that fact hidden, but there are plenty of people who were students then who remember. A few of your older housemates heard about it from their relatives and realized that the two openings might be related.”

The two first-years were silent. Virgo felt a wave of embarrassment pass over her, as she realized that other people had made the connection they had, the connection that she had felt so clever for making. How could she have been so naïve to think that they were the only ones investigating?

“Unfortunately,” Professor Flitwick continued, “that hypothesis has resulted in your name coming up quite a few times, Caecius, since your grandfather was a student at the time.”

Virgo blanched. “What? People think _Caecius_ is connected to—to—”

“Professor, I would _never_ —I know my grandfather was there, but—”

“I _do not_ think you are involved, Mr. Avery,” Flitwick interrupted. “I am only telling you this to warn you. All of the students who have come to me with their suspicions—suspicions only formed based on your surname, and not your character—have been chided for making assumptions and told to leave the investigation to the faculty. Still, if anyone says anything to you, gives you any trouble at all, I want you to come to me as soon as possible.”

Caecius was quite pale. “Yes, Professor,” he murmured.

Flitwick was silent for a moment as he considered the students in front of him. Finally, he sighed. “That’s all. You may go to lunch. Just know that you can always come to me—either of you.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Virgo said, and then pulled Caecius from the classroom. Her friend seemed half-frozen.

They made it down two floors before Caecius spoke. “I can’t believe—I know people judge us for our last names, but I thought anyone who knew me wouldn’t—”

“I know,” Virgo agreed. Her friend looked crestfallen that anyone, even strangers, would think he was capable of this.

“We’ve got to stop, Virgo,” Caecius declared, stopping abruptly in the middle of the transfiguration hallway.

Virgo faced him. “Stop what?”

Caecius sighed. “Following Nott. Don’t you see? We’re doing the same thing those people are doing—judging based only on a surname—and the worst thing we’ve seen from Theo in two weeks is him getting yelled at by Madam Pince for overdue library books.”

Virgo swallowed. Armed with the knowledge that other students had been investigating the Chamber of Secrets as much as they had, she felt much less confident in their conclusions. But she didn’t know what else to do. She didn’t know what else could be the connection between the two attacks, if not a common surname or blood.

“Alright,” she agreed. “We’ll stop.”

* * *

Liam and the other first-year boys seemed quite glad to have Caecius back in the common room that afternoon, as when Virgo returned from the Slytherin common room, they were playing a vigorous game of Gobstones on one of the tables.

Perhaps Virgo was paranoid, but it seemed that Caecius was avoiding eye contact with her. She wondered if he disapproved of her still spending the afternoon in the dungeons with the Slytherins. But she had gotten used to sharing space with Draco and his friends, seeing Abilene relax more around her housemates, gossiping with Daphne. The fact that she could keep an eye on Nott while she did so was just an added bonus.

She did not discuss Nott nor the Chamber of Secrets with Caecius that night, and the next morning the Ravenclaws had found something new to talk about. As they descended the marble staircase to breakfast, they found a group of students crowding around the school-wide notice board in the Entrance Hall. Caecius, the tallest of all of them, shouldered forward to read the notice.

“The school’s forming a dueling club—first meeting’s tonight,” he announced.

“Is it open to first years?” Esmerelda asked.

“ _All Welcome_ ,” Caecius recited. “Blimey, the whole school will turn up, what with how useless Lockhart’s lessons have been—this might be our only chance to get some real Defense instruction all year.”

“Assuming he’s not leading it,” Liam pointed out.

“Merlin, I hope not,” Claire groaned.

“It could be Dumbledore—he did duel Grindelwald and win,” Victoria pointed out.

“My sister said that Flitwick used to be a dueling Champion,” Jordan volunteered.

“Guess the only way we’ll find out is by going,” Aelius suggested. “Eight o’clock, yeah?”

Just before eight o’clock that night, the first-year Ravenclaws followed a crowd of other students from the common room. When they got to the Great Hall, the tables had been vanished to make space, but the room still felt cramped, what with the number of students crammed into the Hall. Dillon Troy and a few of the other seventh year Ravenclaw boys were laughing boisterously just inside the door, Penelope was standing nearby with a group of other prefects, and Virgo saw Draco and the other second year Slytherins huddled near the far wall. Virgo raised her hand to wave at him but got distracted as her vision was obscured.

“You won’t believe who’s running this,” Abilene hissed. It appeared that Abilene had been waiting just behind the door for the Ravenclaws to show up, because Virgo didn’t know where she had come from.

“Who?” Claire asked. She tried valiantly to look over the crowd to the stage, but Claire was even shorter than Virgo was, so she couldn’t see anything.

“ _Professor Lockhart_ ,” Abilene breathed. Her cheeks were flushed and eyes were glittering in a way that Virgo had never seen before.

The other Ravenclaws had heard, as many of them emitted groans and words of despair. “Is it even worth sticking around?” Esmerelda asked the group.

“Worth a laugh, I suppose,” Aelius commented glumly. “Maybe one of the other students will hex him—you know, as practice.”

“I don’t know why you all hate him,” Abilene said as she furrowed her brow. “The things he’s done, he’s very… accomplished…”

Her voice trailed off as Lockhart walked onto the stage, with his typical wide smile. Abilene’s mouth hung slightly ajar as she focused on his form.

Claire and Caecius let out almost identical huffs, not bothering to listen to what Lockhart was saying. “He’s all bluff and bluster, Abi,” Caecius grumbled. “I bet you he didn’t actually do half of what he says he did.”

Abilene didn’t respond, dark eyes fixated on Lockhart as he continued his welcome address.

“—my assistant, Professor Snape,” Lockhart was saying. “He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don’t want—”

“Told you it would be worth a laugh,” Aelius murmured under his breath as Lockhart continued. “Who bets Snape will put Lockhart in the hospital wing?”

Aelius wasn’t far off. Snape’s very first spell removed Lockhart’s wand from his hand and blasted their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor off his feet and into the stone wall behind them. Around them came a strange mixture of titters, cheers and squeals. Despite Lockhart’s abysmal teaching, it seemed like there was certainly some students, like Abilene, who had remained enraptured with him.

Lockhart apparently did not need Madam Pomfrey, as he stood gingerly and addressed them once more. Still, he abandoned the duel, and told them all that they were to pair up.

“Snape should be teaching this—I’d love to learn that hex,” Esmerelda murmured to the rest of them.

Snape and Lockhart were moving through the crowd quickly, pairing up students haphazardly. Abilene turned to Virgo.

“Let me win,” she whispered, so that the others couldn’t hear her.

“What?”

“If we’re partners, let me win.” Abilene didn’t say anything more before Lockhart appeared beside them. Abilene stepped closer to Virgo pointedly.

“Rookwood and Malfoy, yes, that’ll work splendidly!” Lockhart declared. “Lufkin and Crowdy, Davies and Turpin, Gambol and Jones, Jamison and Avery—oh, Lovegood, you go over there with Gamp, she doesn’t have a partner yet, does she?”

The hall was quickly filled with shuffling as each pair spread out to get into dueling position. Soon enough, Lockhart was up on the stage, calling for students to attempt to disarm their opponents on three. When he counted down, the hall erupted into sound. Virgo lazily raised her wand, but Abilene had already cast her spell.

“ _Expelliarmus_!”

The red light shot out of Abilene’s wand and hit Virgo, and Virgo’s wand jerked. Virgo let her hand loosen, but her wand only fell lazily out of her hand onto the stone ground. She looked up at Abilene and shrugged one shoulder.

Abilene looked a bit disappointed behind her normal stony expression, but it didn’t matter anyway: Lockhart was much too busy dealing with the havoc around the hall to notice Abilene, whether her spell had worked properly or not.

Virgo scooped her wand off the ground and looked around. The upperclassmen had clearly not listened to Lockhart’s command to only disarm their opponents and had used the time to test any hexes in their arsenal. Unfortunately, in close quarters, it seemed that half the spells had collided with other students. Snape cast a general countercharm over the group, but some hexes still remained, and a few students rushed from the hall, ostensibly headed for the hospital wing.

Lockhart looked quite a bit more flustered than usual. Virgo wondered if there would ever be a second meeting of the dueling club, as it was adding up to a complete failure so far.

“I’d better teach you how to _block_ unfriendly spells,” Lockhart announced, as he stood in the middle of the crowd. “Let’s have a volunteer pair—"

“ _Teach_? That’ll be a nice change,” Claire scoffed. The other Ravenclaws laughed in surprise. Claire usually refrained from talking over any teacher, despite that they all knew she was underwhelmed by Lockhart’s teaching.

Lockhart and Snape were still discussing what to do next. Snape was a few inches shorter than Lockhart, but the younger professor seemed to wither slightly in the face of Snape’s sneer.

“…We’ll be sending what’s left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox,” Snape was saying. “How about Malfoy and Potter?”

Esmerelda elbowed Virgo in the side pointedly, but it was unnecessary: Virgo had heard. She watched with second-hand terror as Lockhart agreed heartedly and shooed the students back to leave an open area for Draco and Harry.

Virgo doubted that either of them knew any hexes to truly endanger the other, but she felt a strange surge of anxiety, nonetheless. She couldn’t say how much of it was actual fear for Draco’s safety, and how much was simply her own aversion to being the center of attention. She tried to remind herself that she and Draco were very different in that respect, and Draco was probably enjoying the attention, but the lump in her throat remained.

“I don’t know who to root for—the prat or the golden boy,” Justin commented grumpily. Caecius snorted but glanced guiltily at Virgo afterwards. She didn’t need the reminder that most of her housemates didn’t like her brother.

“I’m just rooting for seeing some hexes land,” Aelius said cheerily.

Virgo covered her mouth with her hand, teething at one of her fingers nervously. At least Draco had Snape on his side—perhaps he’d actually learn something tonight. The Potions professor was hunched next to Draco, whispering in his ear. When he straightened, Virgo’s brother was smirking widely.

Lockhart clapped his hands and gestured for the boys to get into dueling position. “Three—two—one—go!”

Draco raised his wand and yelled loud enough for the whole Great Hall to hear. “ _Serpentsortia_!”

A black snake shot from the tip of Draco’s wand and landed, hissing, in the center of the room. The students closest to it screamed and stumbled backwards, and Claire grabbed at Virgo’s hand in fear, even though there were about twenty students in between them and the snake.

“ _Blimey_ ,” Liam muttered, and several of the boys echoed his awe. Virgo agreed. She had no idea that Draco could pull off such an advanced conjuration.

Both Lockhart and Snape had stepped forward to deal with the snake, but Lockhart got to it just a moment before his colleague. For a second, Virgo thought he had succeeded in vanishing it, but then she realized he had just catapulted it into the air with a bang. Students screamed again, as this time when the snake landed, it seemed even more angry as it hissed and writhed. It slithered towards the crowd as if to strike, a group of second-year Hufflepuffs closest.

Again, Snape stepped forward with his wand raised, but this time Potter beat him to the snake. The twelve-year old had shouldered past Lockhart, an expression of determination on his face. But neither a spell nor any words left Harry’s mouth. Instead, he let out a loud, inhuman hiss, as if momentarily possessed by a snake.

The snake paused and turned to Potter in capitulation, as if awaiting instruction. The Gryffindor’s face morphed into a satisfied grin. He seemed unaware of the frightened whispers storming through the crowd.

“What do you think you’re playing at?” Justin Finch-Fletchley, who had been closest to the snake, demanded. His face was pale as he backed away, and he turned and raced from the hall. Many of his housemates followed.

The snake still sat frozen, until Snape finally raised his wand and vanished it without a word. When it was gone, Potter’s two closest friends burst from the crowd, pulling Potter determinedly from the hall.

The hall seemed shocked silent. Lockhart cleared his throat, but he had lost much of his usual pomp and circumstance. His hair was still tousled from being thrown against the wall, and his face was pale. “I think we’ll end there for the night, look out for news for our next meeting,” he announced distractedly.

The students slowly began to stream from the room. Out in the entrance hall, there was no sign of either the Hufflepuffs who had fled from the snake, nor the Golden Trio. As the Ravenclaws climbed the marble staircase to head back to the common room, whispers began to break out around them.

“I didn’t know wizards could talk to snakes,” Liam pondered. Jordan and Aelius shushed him hurriedly.

“We’ll explain in the common room,” Caecius promised quietly. Liam’s brow furrowed, but he did not speak again as the group climbed the stairs. As they passed the second-floor corridor, Virgo stared at the words written on the wall. _Enemies of the Heir_ glittered at her threateningly.

Once they had reached the relative privacy of the common room, conversations began to start back up among the Ravenclaws, but their voices were all still hushed, as if at a funeral. The first-years huddled around a small set of armchairs, squeezing together more than usual.

“So?” Liam asked, now picking up on the need to whisper.

Caecius cleared his throat. “Parseltongue,” he muttered. “Snake language. Very few wizards can speak it—bit of secrecy about it. As much as we can tell, it’s an ability handed down by blood.”

The group was silent for a moment. “Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth,” Victoria explained. “You don’t think…”

“When is the heir not _the_ heir?”

The group all turned rapidly. Luna had gotten separated from the rest of them, as a result of being paired with a Hufflepuff. She appeared to have just gotten back to the common room, and had spoken in her typical musical delivery, indifferent to the hush in the room.

“Parseltongue is inherited by blood, not name,” Claire answered slowly. All of the girls seemed to recognize Luna’s question from the night that the Chamber of Secrets was opened.

“And the Chamber could be protected by enchantments—only openable by a Parselmouth,” Esmerelda theorized.

“You all are saying you think _Harry Potter_ is the heir to Slytherin?” Aelius whispered doubtfully.

The girls all shrugged. “It does make a bit of sense,” Victoria said slowly. “Although I wouldn’t think that Potter would support the pureblood nonsense.”

Virgo gulped. “Maybe he doesn’t,” she whispered. “Maybe it’s just coincidence that Colin is a muggleborn. ‘Enemies of the Heir…’” She trailed off, looking into the fire.

Caecius seemed to grasp her thoughts before any of the others. “Oh, no,” he groaned. “Virgo, you’re not thinking—”

He cut himself off as Virgo raised her eyes to look at him. “Who does Harry Potter hate most at this school?”

The rest of her classmates seemed to reach understanding at the same time, but she answered her own question.

“If Harry Potter is the heir to Slytherin, Draco is in danger more than anyone else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come visit me on tumblr: [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I've been getting a bunch of lovely asks on tumblr recently--feel free to ask me anything your heart desires. Also, if you're ever curious about when I'm going to post the next chapter if I'm taking a longer time than usual, I can usually give you an estimate if you ask. I'm always game to reassure you that I haven't abandoned anything :)
> 
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	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The majority of Hogwarts decides to go home for winter break.

Virgo woke up the next morning to a blanket of snow over Hogwarts grounds, and the wind gusting behind the windows of Ravenclaw tower. The weather would usually be a welcome reminder that winter break was only two days away, but that morning, Virgo had other things on her mind.

“Stop worrying—I’ll eat the Sorting Hat if your brother is attacked,” Caecius muttered as they walked down to the Great Hall.

“It does seem quite unlikely that a pureblood would be attacked,” Claire added. She seemed very happy to be hypothesizing with Caecius and Virgo. Now that Virgo suspected that the attacks had nothing to do with blood purity, she had no qualms about speaking about the Chamber of Secrets and who the heir could be in front of Claire. “Salazar Slytherin wouldn’t approve of that, would he?”

“The wall says ‘Enemies of the _Heir_ ’ not ‘Enemies of _Salazar Slytherin_ ,’” Virgo said for about the fourteenth time since the night before.

Her friends didn’t respond, and the Ravenclaws made the rest of the way to the Great Hall in silence.

Virgo was happy to find that Draco had gotten an early start on the morning: he was already present at the Slytherin table, a smirk evident on his face. He, Crabbe, and Goyle were squeezed in between several of the other second-years and a group of upperclassmen whom Virgo remembered were at the dueling club last night. Her brother seemed to be regaling the group with a dramatic retelling of his duel the night before.

“The faces of those Hufflepuffs when they saw that snake—I’ve always said that Hufflepuff is the coward’s house,” he was drawling when Virgo walked up.

“Had you ever done that spell before, Draco?” Pansy asked, batting her eyelashes. “Only it seems like quite advanced magic—it would be so impressive if that were your first time attempting it.”

Draco shrugged one shoulder with mock humility. “I hadn’t even heard of the spell before—but the credit really needs to go to Snape. Obviously, he’s twice the Transfiguration teacher that McGonagall is, teaching it to me in one go.”

Virgo usually wouldn’t interrupt a conversation that Draco was so obviously loving, but his safety was much more important to her than his ego. “I need to talk to you,” she muttered, pulling on the sleeve of his arm.

“Virgo!” he cheered, although his smile had dimmed slightly in response to her tone. “I haven’t finished eating yet, and you just got here—sit down, whatever it is can wait.”

Virgo grabbed his plate from in front of him, tossing a few more pieces of toast onto it as she did so. “You can eat while we talk, come on, Draco, this can’t wait.”

A few of the older Slytherins snickered at her display. “Yeah, go on, Malfoy, better listen to your baby sister,” one of them teased.

Draco glared at him, although his cheeks were slightly pink. “My _baby_ sister is twice as smart as you will ever hope to be, Bletchley,” he sneered. He stood and threw his knapsack over a shoulder and allowed Virgo to draw him from the hall by the hand.

Virgo ignored the stares of some upperclassmen descending the marble staircase as she pulled her brother across the Entrance Hall and into the small room where he had confronted her months ago about trying out for the Quidditch team. Draco closed the door behind them but stole the plate of food out of her hand.

“Now what was so important? Is this about last night? You were there, weren’t you? I thought I saw you come in at the beginning,” Draco chattered as he dragged a piece of toast through an egg yolk.

“Of course, I was there,” Virgo confirmed, dropping into the seat next to Draco. She looked enviously at the food, but she didn’t allow herself to steal any of the sausages. She’d have to say her piece first, then eat. “Not that I learned _anything_ from Lockhart.”

“Learned something from Snape, though, didn’t you?” Draco said with a smirk. “Or did you already know that _serpentsortia_ spell?”

“You know I’m not good enough in Transfiguration to know that spell—and before you ask, yes, I’m quite impressed that you were able to pull that off.”

Draco rolled her eyes at her brusque tone, but seemed pleased by her approval, nonetheless. “That’s not what this is about, is it—you want me to teach it to you? Nott said you were doing better in Transfiguration after your tutoring session.”

“I am,” Virgo admitted, “but that’s not what this is about—we need to talk about Potter.”

“You’re not mad at me for using that hex on him, are you? It was a _duel_ , Virgo.”

“Would you let me speak?” Virgo chided, slapping Draco’s leg. Draco seemed amused by her impatience, and she suddenly suspected that he had been interrupting just to annoy her. She kicked his leg for good measure, and Draco’s face broke into a grin, as he trapped her feet between his to keep her from kicking him again.

“I’m sorry, dear sister, what do you _need_ to talk about?”

“I think Potter is the heir of Slytherin.”

Draco’s grin fell as he rolled his eyes and groaned. “Not you too—Pucey said he heard a bunch of Hufflepuffs saying that on the way out of the hall last night. There’s _no_ way.”

“Think about it,” Virgo demanded, shuffling her feet against his. “The ‘heir’ thinks inheritance is determined by blood—Potter was raised by Muggles, he wouldn’t understand the inheritance laws. The heir needs to have some characteristic no one else does, in order for them to have found the Chamber—Potter is a Parselmouth, which we know Slytherin was as well. Potter had some run-in with Filch before Mrs. Norris was attacked, and then you said Creevey was annoying him at the Quidditch game right before _he_ was petrified. It all fits.”

“You know what else fits?” Draco drawled, as he pushed his eggs around the plate with his fork. “The heir is after blood purity: Filch is a squib, maybe the heir of Slytherin attacked his cat as a warning, and of course Creevey is a mudblood. Potter doesn’t care about blood purity—he’s best friends with Granger for Merlin’s sake.”

“But no one else at school is a Parselmouth.”

Draco’s grimace softened. “I’ll admit that I was surprised that Potter spoke Parseltongue,” he murmured. “I thought we’d know if the Potter line descended from Slytherin. But I still don’t think he’s the heir. Hell, if Potter is a secret Parselmouth, maybe other people are too—maybe it’s more common than we all realize, just hidden because of the stigma.”

Virgo frowned and didn’t respond. It wasn’t a bad thought, and any other day she would admire Draco for the analysis, but right now she needed him to take her theory more seriously.

Draco seemed to realize what she was thinking. “Why are you so worried about this, anyway? There’s no way that Slytherin’s monster would ever attack a pureblood.”

“If Slytherin’s monster is being controlled by Potter, it certainly would,” Virgo grumbled. “And just which pureblood do you think would be first on Potter’s hit list?”

Draco stared at her in confusion for a moment, and then chuckled. “ _That’s_ what this is about? You’re worried he’ll attack _me_?”

“Draco, Potter hates you, of course I’m worried about that.”

“Well, of course he does,” Draco admitted with a smirk. “He’s completely jealous of me—even worse since I beat him in Quidditch.”

“So, you see my point,” Virgo gloated as she finally stole a piece of toast from the plate.

“I concede that _if_ Potter were the heir of Slytherin, he would _want_ to attack me,” Draco said slowly. “But he’s not, and anyway, attacking a pureblooded Slytherin is a sure-fire way for everyone to start questioning their assumptions about who the Heir of Slytherin is. Potter isn’t _that_ stupid.”

Virgo smiled despite herself. “Did that hurt you to say?”

Draco snorted. “A bit. I trust you won’t repeat that to anyone.”

Virgo found herself grinning even more widely in the face of Draco’s grey eyes glittering with affection. When she had contained her smile enough to speak, she knocked her knee against his. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, alright?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “ _Alright_. Now, would you eat something? You’ll be starving all morning if you don’t have something more than toast.”

Virgo took his proffered fork and dug into the plate. They ate in relative quiet for the next several minutes, although Draco took great pleasure in recalling the surprise on Lockhart’s face as he was blasted into the wall the night before.

Too soon, though, there was a knock on the door, followed by a creak as the door opened. Draco and Virgo turned to find Vince, Greg, Theo, and Daphne entering the small room. Virgo carefully retrieved her legs from where they’d stayed tangled with Draco’s under the table.

“Come on, we’ll be late for Charms,” Theo advised. Draco groaned and stood.

“On the bright side, all Herbology classes are cancelled for the day,” Greg chirped. “Something about mandrakes.”

“Oh, good, I’ll be able to finish the essay for Sinistra during that period, then,” Draco commented. “Come on, Virgo, we’ll drop you off at Transfiguration on the way to class.”

Virgo hid her smile at the fact that her brother had memorized her schedule and followed the Slytherins out the door and up the marble staircase.

She took her customary seat next to Abilene and settled in, discussing the events of the dueling club in rapid-fire whispers until Professor McGonagall silenced the class and began her lecture. Virgo already found it difficult to concentrate in McGonagall’s class, but between the events of last night, the bright snow falling outside, and the memory of fond warmth in Draco’s gaze that morning, Virgo found herself more distracted than normal. Half of the class went by without her filling more than an inch of parchment with notes.

It was nearing the end of the period when a sharp yell sounded from the corridor, the words indistinct. For her age, Professor McGonagall moved extremely quickly, running out of the classroom. The rest of the class followed.

The yelling was coming from the second-floor corridor above them. The class burst up the stairs to find themselves in the middle of chaos. It seemed that several classes had beaten them to the scene, as the hallway was packed to the gills. Virgo was immediately reminded of the night the Chamber of Secrets was opened; half the school had been squeezed into this same corridor as they had read the words on the wall. Again, Virgo had to rely on Caecius’ height to scout what was going on.

“Finch-Fletchley and—is that—the Gryffindor ghost?” he whispered hurriedly to those around him.

“What about them?” Virgo asked, stupidly, as if she didn’t know what was coming.

“Petrified,” he explained softly. “Well, Finch-Fletchley is. The ghost…”

When McGonagall had managed to silence the crowd and ordered most of the students back to their classrooms, Virgo saw what had caused him to trail off. The ghost, usually made of bright white vapor, was now comprised of black smoke and unresponsive. Justin lay next to the ghost, as still as stone, and an expression of shock written across his face.

More significant to Virgo, however, was the fact that next to the two victims, hunched against the wall and red in the face, was Harry Potter.

* * *

After Potter was found at the scene of another petrification, most of the school seemed convinced, just as Virgo was, that he was the heir of Slytherin. Students whispered that every Parselmouth of history had turned out to be a dark wizard, and within hours, everyone knew that Harry Potter was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas break. Anyone who had planned to stay at school over the break was rushing to owl home and make other plans.

Unfortunately, even though the rest of the school suspected Potter, Draco and the rest of the Slytherins still seemed quite incredulous that he could be the heir. The night after the attack, Virgo entered the Slytherin common room with hopes that Draco would have seen reason, but he and the other second years were instead mocking the idea with relish.

“I hope the _real_ heir takes advantage of everyone thinking it’s idiotic _Potter_ ,” Pansy was saying as Virgo joined the group. “If I were the heir, I would set up an attack over the break, to add another nail in his coffin.”

“There’ll hardly be anyone left to attack, though,” Theo mused without looking up from his book. A week ago, Virgo would have been very interested in Theo’s thoughts on the subject, but now she knew for sure that he was not the heir. She had seen him right before the attack, and she had heard from Draco that they’d all been in Charms when Peeves had found Justin’s body.

“Except for the Weasleys and Granger,” Draco mused. “And I doubt that the heir will attack any of them, if he wants to keep Potter as a scapegoat.”

“He or _she_ ,” Pansy said with an arched eyebrow.

The Slytherins laughed. “You have something to tell us, Pans?” Daphne asked pointedly.

“I wish,” Pansy answered with a small smile.

Virgo had heard enough. It was clear that the Slytherins were not taking this seriously. When they had moved on to discussing everyone’s plans for the holiday, she turned to Vince. “Can I talk to you—in private?”

Vince furrowed his brow, but after a moment he nodded jerkily and stood. Virgo reddened as the rest of their friends eyed them questioningly. Vince and Virgo had never been close, despite spending quite a bit of time together with Greg and Draco through the years, but he was the best person to have this conversation with.

Vince led Virgo back to the second-year’s dorm room. Virgo took a seat on Draco’s bed, while Vince sat on his own, silent as he waited for her to speak.

“I don’t know if Draco’s told you,” she began, “but I _do_ think that Potter is the heir of Slytherin.”

Vince’s bushy eyebrows came together in the middle of his forehead. “He’s not a Slytherin, though. And he’s friends with mudbloods.”

“Well, yes,” Virgo admitted slowly. She really didn’t want to get into her hypothesis that the heir had different goals than Salazar Slytherin did. She didn’t bring Vince back here to get his input on her theory. “Anyway, it’s occurred to me that if Potter is the heir, the person he’d most like to attack is Draco.”

Vince’s eyes widened. Virgo wondered if all the Slytherins really believed that they were safe from the attacks because of their relatively pure blood. “Potter does hate Draco,” Vince admitted at last, although he sounded unconvinced.

“Yes,” Virgo said. “Draco thinks I’m being stupid and doesn’t believe that he could be in danger. But I think he needs to be careful—especially over break.”

Vincent was silent for a moment. “Why are you telling _me_ this?” he asked shrewdly.

Virgo blushed slightly. She suddenly realized that this was the first conversation that she’d ever had with Vincent alone. She imagined that Vince did find it quite strange. “Because,” she explained, “I need you to protect Draco. You’re the only one I can ask. With so few people around the castle over break, Potter will have plenty of opportunities to attack Draco without witnesses. Draco will never listen to me if I ask him to not go off alone, and you know Greg would give in to Draco too easily. You’re the best person for the job.”

Vince straightened slightly at the last sentence. Virgo imagined that he wasn’t often told that he was best at something. “You want me to be his bodyguard over break.”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “But don’t let him know—he’ll just try to escape you if he knows you’re doing it. Just don’t let him go off alone anywhere, alright? The common room should be safe, of course, but everywhere else…”

Vince nodded. “You can count on me,” he declared. Virgo smiled. Before this conversation, she didn’t think that was true, but now she believed it.

“I know,” she said, and then they both rose and rejoined the group in the common room.

* * *

“What are you going to do all break, Virgo, with none of us around?” Aelius asked the next afternoon, as all the boys were packing up their belongings. Virgo was sprawled out across Caecius’ bed, throwing his Quaffle up and down idly.

The Hogwarts Express would leave early the next morning, and Virgo was dreading it. In contrast, it was clear that most of her friends were looking forward to leaving school. The group had been even more rowdy than normal in their last period Defense Against the Dark Arts class, celebrating their two and a half weeks of freedom. But Virgo was terrified of what Hogwarts would be like after the vast majority of the school left for home.

“Hang out with Draco, I suppose,” she answered. “No one else will be around.”

“You said Greg and Vince are staying as well, didn’t you?” Caecius asked. He was currently kneeling at his trunk, tossing all his school supplies out of it onto the floor. It seemed that Caecius was determined to not do any schoolwork over break.

“Yeah,” Virgo sighed. “Looks like it will be us, the Weasleys, and Potter left.”

“Penelope said she’s staying, too,” Liam reported. He was the only one of the boys who had finished packing already. He was sitting on his bed, doodling intently in his sketchbook.

“Great,” Virgo grumbled. “I’ll have _one_ Ravenclaw left in the tower.”

“Bet you that Penelope will be spending all her time with Weasley—the one who’s the prefect—anyway,” Jordan commented. “My sister said that she keeps spotting them together—thinks they’re secretly dating.”

Nobody responded, but Caecius shot Jordan a pointed look. Virgo realized that her best friend had been trying to get her to look on the bright side, and Jordan predicting that their prefect wouldn’t be around to keep her company didn’t qualify.

“Well, at least you’ll have plenty of time to study and use the Quidditch pitch,” Aelius said brightly. “And you don’t seem to mind hanging out with your brother.”

Caecius snorted, but didn’t say anything, and Justin, who had been quiet since she had entered the room, smirked crookedly. Virgo pursed her lips. She was well aware that everyone had their own opinions on Draco—Caecius, because he disapproved of how devoted Virgo was to him, and Justin, because he simply hated her brother. She didn’t need to hear it.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll take advantage of the empty library and get ahead in all our classes. Give Claire a run for her galleons on the end of year exams,” Virgo joked half-heartedly.

The boys laughed. “I’m surprised Claire is even going home—I didn’t think she could bear to part with her beloved library,” Caecius teased.

“She said her parents put their foot down,” Liam explained, and no one else responded. It was an all too familiar story over the last two days: after the latest attack, _The Daily Prophet_ had finally reported the Chamber’s opening, and parents were sending for their children in droves.

When Virgo left the boys room a half of an hour later, she still felt fairly melancholy about all her friends leaving her, and the feeling only worsened over the next twenty-four hours. She accompanied all her friends to the train the next morning, hugging them goodbye with a forced smile. When the train left the station, she was the only student left on the platform, and she shared a silent carriage ride back to the school with Professor McGonagall.

The day passed slowly. For the first hour, Virgo appreciated having the library to herself, but by the time the middle of the afternoon arrived, even Madame Pince had left the desk, and Virgo felt unbearably lonely. She resolved to wait until dinner to see Draco, insecure about her desire to cling to his side all of break. After another few hours of ambivalent studying, the clock struck six and she made her way down to the Great Hall, where dinner was beginning to be served.

It seemed that Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle had also been interested in an early dinner, as they were already present when she arrived. The rest of the students staying at school over the holiday slowly trickled into the hall over the next hour. The Ravenclaw table was completely bare, as Penelope was sitting with the elder Weasley at the Gryffindor table, but there was a healthy showing of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

After Vince and Greg had had seconds of dessert, the foursome sighed and rose from the table. Virgo dreaded returning to a dark, empty Ravenclaw tower.

“You want to go flying around the grounds tomorrow?” Draco murmured as they walked out of the hall. “I let you study today, but you can’t waste away the entire break revising for exams that are six months away.”

Virgo smiled. “I’d love to. After breakfast?”

Draco nodded. Vince and Greg had stepped away from them, towards the stairs to the dungeons, but Draco didn’t join them yet. “You’ll be alright tonight?”

Virgo shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah,” she said, although her voice sounded squeaky even to her own ears.

Draco frowned, but didn’t press, and after another long moment, he turned and rejoined his friends and disappeared down the dungeon stairs.

* * *

Virgo was not alright. She had never seen Ravenclaw tower so empty, and she could not get calm.

She knew she was being ridiculous. She grew up in a castle, for Merlin’s sake, and she certainly had gotten used to the expansive, empty wings of the Manor. But she had only ever known Hogwarts to be crowded and full of sound. What was left behind without the students now seemed unbearably eerie.

She had lit all the lanterns she could find in the common room, until it was as bright as possible, but still she couldn’t relax. It seemed that wherever she sat in the common room, she still found herself looking over her shoulder, as if someone or something was going to sneak up on her. Eventually, when she gave up on Penelope returning to the common room directly after dinner, she retreated to her dorm room, where she tried not to think that the closest person was floors away.

The hours passed slowly. At first, she was hopeful that Penelope was only spending the evening with her Gryffindor friend, and would come back to Ravenclaw to sleep, but as it got later and later, Virgo’s optimism waned. Her body warred with her mind, as her eyelids began to droop, but her anxiety kept her sitting up in bed, checking and rechecking that she was alone.

Finally, when one in the morning came and went, and she still hadn’t heard Penelope return, she gave in. She threw off the blankets, shrugged on her winter cloak, and stuffed a set of robes for tomorrow into her knapsack.

She thought the dark corridors of the castle might be even more frightening than her dorm room, but now, with a plan of action, adrenaline seemed to overtake any residual anxiety. She rushed down the spiral staircase. Every step was one step closer to company. To Draco.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Virgo shrieked and swung around. She had just exited the Ravenclaw stairwell into the fifth-floor corridor. For a moment, she thought the voice must have come from an invisible person, but then she spotted a portrait of an austere old woman, watching Virgo with suspicion.

“The only other Ravenclaw never came back to the tower,” Virgo explained. “I thought I’d go stay with my brother in Slytherin.”

The woman’s face softened minutely. “Penelope? Probably staying the night with that Weasley boy…”

“You know her?”

The portraits around Virgo all chuckled—even some who she had thought were sleeping. “You students always forget that we are here, watching,” a knight across the hall said. “We see a lot, even if you never speak to us.”

Virgo blushed. “You always seem to be busy with your own conversations,” she explained. “It’s intimidating to interrupt to get to know you.”

The portraits all hummed indistinctly. They all seemed to know that Virgo was exaggerating. Other than speaking with Rutherford, she hadn’t actually thought to speak to any of the other portraits. Unlike at Malfoy Manor, at Hogwarts, there were always places to go, living people to see.

“Well, regardless, we can’t let you walk down to Slytherin alone,” the first woman said briskly. “Not in this day and age.”

Virgo refrained from blurting her first thought, which was _how do you plan to stop me_? It was lucky she did.

“But of course, a young child like you, shouldn’t be left in the tower alone,” the woman continued. “Sir Francis? Will you?”

The knight on the opposite wall rose from his chair, nodding. “It will be my honor to escort the young lady,” he proclaimed with a small bow. When he straightened, he winked at Virgo.

The journey down to Slytherin was easier after that, with Sir Francis chattering next to her. Even though the corridors were dark and empty, his exuberance made Virgo feel less alone. She hardly had to speak a word, as he prattled on about the last seven centuries on the wall opposite Ravenclaw tower, and his fondness for Lady Darla, despite her austere nature. It was only when Sir Francis slowed his pace and quieted that Virgo looked around.

They were nearing the stairs that descended into the second-floor corridor. Sir Francis turned back to her, while the banshee whose portrait he was standing in glared at him. “There aren’t any portraits in the corridor where all the attacks have happened,” he explained regretfully. “I’ll go ahead to scout the other side, but you’ll be on your own down there. Yell at the first sign of trouble, alright, my dear?”

Virgo furrowed her brow, but did not ask the question on her mind, as Sir Francis was already disappearing through the side of the frame. When he returned to tell her the coast was clear, Virgo descended the stairs alone.

She had never noticed how long the second-floor corridor was, as it was usually packed with students. She quickened her pace past the words on the wall, _Enemies of the Heir_ glittering in the moonlight. When she reunited with Sir Francis in the first floor Transfiguration corridor, she was breathing heavily.

“ _All_ the attacks have happened up there?” she asked breathlessly. “I knew Mrs. Norris and Justin, and the ghost, but Colin too?”

Sir Francis glanced at her. “Indeed,” he answered. “The Professors believed the Creevey boy was on his way down to the Hospital Wing.” He pointed down the first-floor corridor to where the hospital wing resided.

Virgo didn’t respond, as she catalogued the new information in her mind.

The rest of the journey went quickly. Virgo parted from Sir Francis in the dungeons, where the portraits dwindled, after he confirmed that she knew the password to the Slytherin common room and would not spend the night alone in the dungeon corridor.

She exhaled heavily when she finally entered the dimly lit Slytherin common room. On another night, maybe, she would have found the green light from the lake creepy, but now she only felt relief to finally have reached her destination. Draco was just down the hall.

Draco hadn’t been lying about how loudly Crabbe snored. Virgo could hear it from the hallway, and it only increased in volume as she entered the dorm room. She smiled softly as she tiptoed to Draco’s bed, dropping her knapsack softly onto the stone floor. None of the three boys stirred as she stripped her winter cloak and toed off her shoes.

When she sat on the edge of Draco’s bed, he began to stir. Overcome with fondness as she watched his eyelashes flutter in the dim light, she brushed his hair back gently. “Draco,” she whispered.

She didn’t think she’d ever forget the soft smile he greeted her with as he woke. “Virgo,” he murmured, sitting up. Virgo knew then that she’d done the right thing, coming down here.

Virgo hadn’t realized that Crabbe’s snoring had stopped until he jerked suddenly out of sleep, sitting up. “What—Draco—are you alright?”

Draco snorted. “Go back to sleep, you prat, it’s just Virgo,” he explained.

Vince snuffled tiredly. “Thought—threat—promised to—”

He trailed off as he fell back to sleep suddenly.

Draco grinned fondly at his friend, before turning the smile onto his sister. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get in.”

He pulled the covers back pointedly. Virgo’s heart pounded.

“Are you sure?” she muttered, even as she slid into the space that he had left for her. She lowered her voice further. “What about Vince and Greg?”

Draco inhaled sleepily. “They don’t have siblings—I’ll just tell them—something,” Draco yawned. “They’ll never tell anyone, if I tell them not to, anyway.”

Draco had wound one of his arms around Virgo’s waist, pulling her closer to him. There already wasn’t much room in the single bed, but Draco didn’t seem to care to keep his distance, as he pushed his forehead against hers, sharing the same pillow. He was wearing the rings she had given him last Christmas; the hand on the small of her back radiated warmth through her silk nightrobe.

“Sorry I didn’t—I had thought about offering to have you stay here,” Draco admitted softly. His eyes were closed, but he kept his forehead pressed against hers, so she could feel the exhalation of his words across her lips. “I’ve been kicking myself ever since dinner, for not saying anything.”

Virgo relaxed further into the mattress at his words and scooted closer to her brother. Draco didn’t open his eyes, but when he felt her push closer to him, he just tightened his hold and brushed his nose against her own.

“Penelope never came back to the tower after dinner,” she whispered, closing her eyes as well. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how alone I was—that the closest people were in Gryffindor tower, across the castle.”

Draco’s nose wrinkled against hers. “Can’t believe your _prefect_ left you alone,” he griped.

Virgo hummed sleepily. Now that she was in Draco’s bed, her exhaustion was hitting her all at once. “Not her job to chaperone me,” she muttered.

Draco grunted indistinctly. “Even so,” he said after a long minute, in which Virgo had been sure he had fallen asleep. “You should stay here the rest of the break. I don’t like the idea of you alone, on the other side of the castle.”

Virgo smiled. She wondered if Draco could feel it, in the way that her face twitched against his. “Okay,” she assented easily, and then fell deeply asleep, completely at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can find me on tumblr: [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I love feedback in all forms! Comment box is below, or survey is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9)!


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Break at Hogwarts

Draco wasn’t in bed when Virgo woke up the next morning. Still, Virgo woke up with the distinct awareness of having shared space with him all night. Her dreams had been filled with visions of him—even more than usual—and amongst the dreams, her sleep had been interrupted by split-second bursts of wakefulness as he had moved against her in the tiny bed.

Despite the exhaustion from staying up until one o’clock in the morning and sharing a single bed with another person all night, Virgo felt rested—no, contented, satiated, quenched—by the time spent in Draco’s bed. It had been so long since he had held her like that.

Eventually, though, she had to get up. There was no sign of Draco, Greg, or Vince as she got dressed and cleaned up. When she arrived in the common room, only Draco was waiting for her, reading the latest issue of _Seeker Weekly_.

“There you are,” Draco greeted as Virgo approached. “If you had slept much longer, I was going to be forced to wake you, or die of hunger.”

Virgo rolled her eyes fondly. “Why didn’t you go with Greg and Vince to breakfast?” she asked as Draco tossed the magazine aside and led her out of the common room.

Draco shrugged. “Thought I’d wait for you. Also, Vince made me promise to wait for you before coming down to breakfast. I guess he was worried you’d freak out if you found yourself alone when you woke up. Didn’t realize he was soft for you, too.”

Virgo didn’t respond. She thought Vince’s request might have had more to do with making sure Draco didn’t go wandering the hallways by himself, but she couldn’t tell her brother that.

“Anyway, it means that he and Greg believed my explanation for why you were sleeping in my bed,” Draco continued. “I told them that you’d gotten freaked out in Ravenclaw alone and asked them not to tell anyone because you were embarrassed about it.”

“That’s not even a lie,” Virgo grumbled. In the light of day, she did find it a bit embarrassing that she couldn’t handle sleeping in her dorm alone.

Draco wrapped an arm around her to pull her to his side. “Don’t sweat it. I would have gone mental alone in Slytherin if Greg and Vince hadn’t stayed for Christmas, too.”

When they got to the Great Hall, Greg and Vince were still there, although clearly nearing the end of their meal. True to Draco’s words, they didn’t seem to treat Virgo any differently for having crept into her brother’s bed in the middle of the night.

Despite the late hour, most of the remaining students were still in the Hall eating breakfast. The Gryffindor table was rowdy, as the group of Weasleys, Potter, and Granger seemed to be listening to the twins tell a story. The Ravenclaw table was still empty, though, as Penelope was sitting with the Hufflepuff prefects today.

“So, I was thinking that after breakfast, I could go back to Ravenclaw with you,” Draco explained after swallowing a bite of toast. “You could change into your Quidditch leathers so we can go flying after, and you can get some more of your clothes, if you’re still game to stay in Slytherin for the break.”

Virgo smiled fondly. She was glad that the light of day hadn’t changed Draco’s tune in regard to his offer of hospitality. “As long as you don’t get me in trouble for showing you how to get into Ravenclaw,” she teased.

“Fair’s fair,” Draco replied. “You come and go in Slytherin as you please—I should be able to do the same with Ravenclaw.”

Virgo grinned. She knew Draco didn’t have as much reason to come and go in Ravenclaw as she did in Slytherin, considering, unlike herself, he didn’t have any friends in the other house. But something excited her about being able to show him where she had lived for the last four months. That he would be interested in seeing it.

After hearing that Draco and Virgo would be staying together for the day, Vince and Greg finally returned to the common room. Shortly after, Virgo and Draco began climbing the stairs towards Ravenclaw tower.

Virgo tapped the eagle knocker against the door with trepidation. She had gotten used to having to answer a riddle in order to enter the common room, but with only two Ravenclaws in the castle, if the question stumped her, there was little chance that another housemate would arrive soon with the answer.

The beak opened, and the familiar voice immediately posed its query. “What can you keep, even after giving to someone?”

Virgo frowned. She had heard of a doubling charm, which made an exact replica of an object, but if you gave someone a replica and kept the original, that didn’t fulfil the riddle. And if you cut something in half, you were no longer sharing the same thing. It couldn’t be an object, then, she pondered. An idea, maybe.

“Your word,” Draco guessed, interrupting her thoughts. “You give someone your word, and you either keep your word or break your promise.”

“Oh,” Virgo mumbled. “Yes, I suppose so.”

“Indeed,” said the eagle, and the door swung open.

“Did you let me guess that on purpose?” Draco asked as they walked into the sunlit common room. “So that I’d feel good about myself?”

“No!” Virgo responded with an eye roll. “I just hadn’t gotten to the answer yet. Sometimes I get the answer immediately, other times it takes me a bit longer. Same with the rest of us. Except Luna—she seems to always have an answer immediately. Figures, since she talks in riddles half the time.”

Draco’s mouth quirked up. “Maybe I would have done alright in Ravenclaw after all,” he mused as he walked across to the windows. “If I’d known you had this kind of view from your common room, maybe I’d have fought the Sorting Hat.”

Virgo snorted. “You wanted to be a Slytherin since you learned what Hogwarts was when you were five,” she commented, even as she joined him at the windows. The mountains around Hogwarts glittered with snow in the morning light.

“That was before I knew you were a Ravenclaw, though.”

Virgo blushed slightly. She had never considered what it would have been like if both she and Draco were in Ravenclaw. Her brother had never given her any indication that he much valued the traits of the houses other than Slytherin.

Draco took a seat in the common room as Virgo climbed the stairs up to her dorm, as he was unable to enter the girls’ dorms. Virgo tried to quickly gather the things she needed for the next twenty-four hours, but she found some difficulty deciding which books to take with her.

When she rejoined her brother in the common room, he was not alone. At first, Virgo thought that Penelope was chastening Draco (and by extension, Virgo) for entering a common room that was not his own, but then she realized that only Draco looked angry, and Penelope was blushing.

Penelope turned to Virgo as she joined them. “I’m sorry for leaving you alone up here last night,” she professed. “I didn’t realize you would be so scared here on your own.”

Virgo blushed. She couldn’t believe Draco had scolded a _prefect_ for not coming back to her house for the night. “It’s alright,” she mumbled. “I’m going to stay down in Slytherin for the rest of the break, so you don’t need to worry about staying here just for me.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Penelope fussed. “I just wasn’t thinking—I can sleep here for the rest of break.”

Draco and Virgo exchanged glances quickly. Greg and Vince had bought Draco’s explanation easily enough, but Virgo still had to be careful to not be too honest with Penelope about how eager she was to sleep near her brother.

She settled for shrugging one shoulder. “Christmas has always been family time for us, anyway. Even without our parents, it might be nice to be close to Draco,” she explained.

Penelope nodded understandingly. “Alright, if you’re sure.”

Virgo nodded definitively, and then pulled Draco from the common room.

“You prat,” she accused fondly as they descended the staircase from Ravenclaw tower. “I can’t believe you yelled at her for not coming back to Ravenclaw last night.”

“She’s your _prefect_ , Virgo. She’s supposed to be looking after you. And she knows that we could get her in terrible trouble if we told anyone she stayed out all night. What do you think she was doing, anyway?”

Virgo rolled her eyes. “Like I’m going to gossip with you after you just told me you're thinking about getting her in trouble.”

Draco smiled fondly at her, pulling on her elbow. “I wouldn’t _actually_ tell anyone, because we could get in trouble for you being out at night, too. But _she_ doesn’t know that. Come on, just tell me.”

But Virgo refused to give in to Draco’s needling. He continued to pester her all the way down to the Quidditch pitch, but based on his easy grin, Draco didn’t actually mind Virgo’s obstinance.

The rest of the day passed happily, as Draco and Virgo spent several hours first practicing Quidditch maneuvers on the pitch, and then flying over the frozen lake to the edge of Hogsmeade. After a late lunch, they then cozied up to the fire in the Slytherin common room and wasted away the rest of the day with Vince and Greg, in a mix of games, reading, and chatting.

Despite the contentment of the day, a slight gloom settled over Virgo after dinner. Having spent the entire day with Draco, she no longer felt remotely alone or scared in the castle, and therefore had no reason to share his bed that night. She was sure that Draco would ask her to take Nott’s or Zabini’s empty bed instead. She had half a mind to pretend to have a nightmare in the middle of the night to have an excuse to crawl into his bed again, but she knew it would only draw more of Vince’s and Greg’s attention.

While she was agonizing over this, the warmth of the fire and the exhaustion of the last twenty-four hours began to take their toll, and Virgo started to doze off on the couch. Draco was playing Greg in wizard’s chess for the sixth time in a row, as Greg, unlike Vince, was a relatively good sport about being consistently beaten. This particular match only lasted about five minutes before Draco called checkmate.

“Oi, Virgo, let’s get you to bed—I’m not testing my levitation charms on you to get you to bed if you fall asleep on the sofa.”

Virgo groaned, but complied, following Draco from the common room.

In the dorm, Draco lit one of the lanterns as Virgo rummaged through her knapsack for her sleep robe. When she returned from the bathroom, having changed into the robe, she was surprised to find Draco remaking his own bed with clean sheets.

“I put my sheets in the laundry this afternoon—figured you might appreciate some fresh sheets,” Draco murmured, as he fluffed the pillows.

“Oh—you’re giving me your bed?” Virgo asked. “Are you going to take Nott’s or Zabini’s?”

Draco turned quickly, and even in the dim light of the lantern, Virgo could see that his cheeks were flushed. “Oh, I had thought—but of course—you’re right, I probably should—”

“Of course, I’d prefer to share with you,” Virgo interrupted eagerly, blushing as well. “I just thought that you would never allow it—I didn’t think Vince and Greg would buy your explanation for more than one night—”

“You would?” Draco asked. “Because, I’ve been thinking—most everyone just thinks I’m protective of you—no one finds the fact that we’re affectionate strange. Blimey, you should hear Daphne and Tracey go on about how cute they think it is that I’m such a ‘good older brother.’”

Virgo stepped forward. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. But you don’t think—you don’t think they’ll find it strange if we choose to share a bed all break?”

Draco shrugged one shoulder sheepishly. “I don’t think Vince and Greg will tell. I told them that you’re really homesick—first Christmas away from home, you know—and that I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted the extra comfort of sharing a bed, like we used to do when we were kids.”

Virgo raised her eyebrows pointedly. _When we were kids_ seemed to imply something different than the more truthful _up until a year ago_ , but the wording probably did help sell the protective older brother act.

“So, you don’t think they’ll think anything of it?” she asked, tentatively.

“I really don’t think so,” Draco assured. “They didn’t seem to find it weird when I talked to them this morning. You need to remember that neither of them has siblings—everything they know as normal between siblings they’ve learned from us.”

“Okay,” Virgo whispered. It felt a bit dangerous, still, but she was lying to herself if she thought she could even contemplate saying no. “Are you… are you coming to bed now, then?”

Draco shrugged again. “Might as well,” he murmured. Then he stepped to the side, leaving the path to the bed clear. Virgo immediately slid in between the clean sheets. “I’m going to change and clean up… be right back.”

Virgo nodded and attempted to dull the beating of her heart. When he returned from the bathroom, having changed into his nightrobe, he paused by the door, and then raised his wand to the lantern to extinguish the flame. Virgo was glad for it, as now he couldn’t see the reddening of her cheeks as he climbed into bed with her.

The single bed wasn’t big enough for them to sleep on their backs without touching, but Virgo didn’t know how else to lay, so there arms just awkwardly overlapped. It had been so easy to slip into his bed and into his arms the night before, but now it was like she didn’t know how to be around him. She suddenly felt like she was breathing too quickly and tried to hold her breath so that he couldn’t tell that she was nervous.

“Are you… are you comfortable?” Draco murmured into the dark after a minute.

Virgo swallowed. “I’m a little cold,” she answered eventually, wondering if he was still wearing the enchanted rings on his fingers.

“Oh, here.” Draco reached up and closed the curtains around the fourposter. “It helps keep the chill out.”

“Thanks.”

They lay in silence for several more minutes. Virgo knew neither of them were anywhere close to falling asleep. When she couldn’t take it any longer, she rolled on her side to face the curtain, so that they were no longer touching. She’d prefer the distance than the awkwardness.

The bed shifted as Draco moved behind her. Then, Virgo felt a warm hand on her hip, and Draco was pulling her back across the sheets towards him. He had also turned onto his side, so that his chest pressed against her back and his legs bent into the space behind her own.

“This okay?” he murmured against her neck, as he wound his arm securely around her waist.

Virgo inhaled and relaxed into him. “Yeah,” she sighed, touching the hand over her stomach reverently.

“Easier to keep you warm this way, anyway,” Draco muttered into her neck. To demonstrate, he moved his hand from her stomach, and began coasting it down her thigh, her hip, her side. It left a trail of heat in its wake, only partly from the heating charm on his ring.

Virgo involuntarily made a soft sound in the back of her throat. Her eyes closed, her entire body and mind occupied by the soft caresses. Draco either didn’t notice her quiet moan, or didn’t think anything of it, because he continued the rhythm for several minutes. Down her side, across her hip, trailing his fingers across the silk over the inside of her thigh. Virgo knew she was getting wet underneath the nightrobe, could feel her nipples pebble against the fabric. Eventually, though, Draco’s touches slowed, and his breathing evened out against her neck, and Virgo was finally able to slow her heartbeat and fall asleep.

* * *

Over the next few days, Virgo got used to sleeping in Draco’s bed again. In some ways, it was unbearable to be so close and not be able to touch him fully—several mornings, Virgo awoke with Draco’s penis hard against her hip, her bum, her stomach. When Draco awoke, he’d shift slightly away until it wasn’t pressed against her, but before he did, she often found herself moving against it, trying to coax it harder, trying to feel how big it had gotten in the past year. If Draco noticed her mission, he didn’t say anything.

Draco wasn’t the only one who woke up with their body physically aroused, though. The third morning of break, Virgo awoke from a dream filled with slippery, naked skin, with her thighs tacky with wetness and her nipples pebbled. To make matters worse, Draco had grasped one of her breasts in his sleep, his middle finger poised over her nipple. Virgo tried to shift discretely, making his finger trail over the peak, but only succeeded in rousing Draco, who mumbled incoherently, released his hold, and fell back asleep.

Still, Virgo wouldn’t trade sleeping in his bed for anything. Draco had been right, Greg and Vince didn’t seem to think anything of her sleeping in Draco’s bed, and had gotten used to having Virgo around from dawn to dusk. Although, since Virgo and Draco kept the curtains around the four-poster closed, Vince and Greg didn’t know how intimately the siblings slept. She thought they might think differently if they had seen them wrapped around each other.

Soon enough, it was Christmas morning. It was still dark in the dorm, very little light filtering through the portholes to the lake, when Virgo and Draco were woken by Vince’s cry.

“Presents!” he exclaimed. “Oi, wake up, it’s Christmas!”

When Virgo and Draco opened the curtains and Greg lit the lanterns, all four of them immediately became focused on the pile of presents at the end of each of their beds. It seemed that the house-elves had caught on to the fact that Virgo was staying in Slytherin, as she spotted several presents with her name on them.

Although it was different than Christmases past, the present opening process was just as thrilling. The dorm room was filled with exhilarated cries after each present was opened, and Virgo thought that Draco in particular enjoyed not having to keep any decorum as he ripped open each parcel.

Without the ability to personally go shopping for the other, Virgo couldn’t help but feel that her and Draco’s gifts to each other felt slightly lackluster. Still, Draco thanked her profusely for the new practice Snitch she had asked her mother to get, which came with seventeen different settings of speed and agility, and teased her for giving him _Testing the Limits of Conjuration_ , which she had written their mother for after seeing his _Serpentsortia_ spell. Draco, on the other hand, had gotten her a set of quills, including self-writing, spell-check, and self-inking varieties, as well, as a beautifully woven hat and scarf in Slytherin colors.

Virgo was surprised at how sorely she missed her mother and father, after opening their presents. Narcissa had, of course, sent her box after box of new robes, but Virgo thought the experience of receiving new clothes was slightly dimmed when she couldn’t model them for her mother and have her oh and ah. Her father, on the other hand, had given her _Talons and Talent: The History of the Holyhead Harpies_ , which Virgo thought was as close as he would ever get to approving of her obsession with Quidditch.

The Christmas feast was more decadent and festive than Virgo had expected. Even Draco, who tried to be dismissive of all things under Dumbledore’s purview, seemed impressed by the decorations, which made the Great Hall seem like more of a winter wonderland than a dining room. Draco spent several minutes loudly enumerating his presents, which Virgo, Vince, and Greg only allowed because they knew the Gryffindors could hear. By the time that the four of them finished eating, Virgo felt like her new cashmere robe would have to be re-tailored.

All in all, it wasn’t a Christmas like Virgo was used to, but it was quite cheery, nonetheless. The feast kept all four of them lethargic most of the afternoon, so that when Virgo finally roused herself to make the daily trek up to Ravenclaw tower to retrieve clothes for the next day, Draco did not join her.

Even the portraits had gotten into the holiday spirit: the hallways were filled with laughter and carols as Virgo made the slow climb to her common room. She spent several minutes chatting with Sir Francis and Lady Darla, who were in top form, teasing each other as they asked after her Christmas morning. There was no sign of Penelope in either the common room or the dorms, and Virgo wondered if Penelope had moved completely into her boyfriend’s dorm in Gryffindor, or Virgo just kept missing her.

By the time that Virgo had traded out some of her books, collected clean robes, and made the trek back down the stairs, it was past teatime and the sky had darkened outside the castle. She ran into Penelope in the Entrance hall, but only traded quick holiday greetings before continuing on. She was considering breaking open the Holyhead Harpies book when she got back to the common room, so that she could write a genuine thank you note to her father, when she heard voices in the dungeon corridor ahead of her.

“Well, get off to your dormitories,” Percy Weasley was saying to Vince and Crabbe when she walked up. “It’s not safe to be wandering around dark corridors these days.”

“ _You_ are,” Vince replied, which Virgo found quite surprising. Vince usually had a Slytherin pragmatism in regard to keeping his mouth shut around people with power. It was unlike him to goad a prefect.

“ _I_ am a prefect. Nothing’s about to attack _me_ ,” Weasley said. Virgo snorted unintentionally. She couldn’t say she approved of Penelope’s taste in boys.

The three boys swung around at the sound of her snort. Percy narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you doing down here?” he asked accusingly.

Virgo crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. “I’m staying in Slytherin for the break. Didn’t Penelope tell you?” she asked pointedly.

Weasley reddened. “Well, get to the common room, then,” he commanded meekly, and then disappeared down the corridor towards the Great Hall.

Virgo turned to Vince and Greg, her smirk falling. “Where’s Draco?” she asked Vince.

“Dunno,” Vince shrugged.

Virgo narrowed her eyes. “If he’s wandering around by himself, unprotected, Vince, I’m never giving you my serving of pudding ever again,” she warned, as she stomped down the corridor towards the Slytherin common room. Vince and Greg hurried after her, and the three of them didn’t speak until Virgo gave the password.

Thankfully, Draco was safe where Virgo had left him, in front of the fire. “There you are,” he greeted as the three of them settled around him. “I was just thinking of coming to look for you all—how was tea, you two?” he asked Vince and Greg.

“Er—good,” Greg said. Draco furrowed his brow, and Virgo knew why. Greg was usually quite loquacious when it came to his descriptions of meals. Daphne sometimes joked that he could be a food reviewer for the _Prophet_ if he wanted to.

“Well, while you were gone, I got a letter from Father,” Draco explained. “He sent me an article I think you’ll find funny—well, Virgo, you’ll just find it interesting, I suppose.”

Draco shuffled around the parchments and books on the table next to him and came up with a newspaper clipping. Draco cleared his throat importantly before he started reading aloud.

> **INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**
> 
> _Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car._
> 
> _Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley’s resignation._
> 
> _“Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute,” Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. “He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately.”_
> 
> _Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she’d set the family ghoul on them._

When Draco finished, he lowered the parchment with an expectant look. Greg gave a small chuckle, but Virgo only rolled her eyes. “Well, that does explain what Father meant when he said he had a plan to get payback,” she said. “It would just be the cherry on top for Father if he could undermine the Muggle Protection Act at the same time.”

Draco hummed his assent, although he looked a bit disappointed that his audience wasn’t as amused by the article as he’d expected. “I guess I never told you,” he explained to Vince and Greg. “Arthur Weasley had the Manor raided last week. Father found out about it before hand, of course, and made sure our Dark Arts collection was well-hidden in the secret chamber under the drawing-room—”

Vince let out an eager sound, but Draco continued.

“—but still, the _nerve_ of Weasley. If he loves muggles so much, he should snap his wand and go join them. You’d never know the Weasleys were purebloods, by the way they behave. I can’t wait to rub it in Weasley’s face if Father gets his father sacked.”

Virgo rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a prat, Draco,” she said gently. “Just because we know Father wants to discredit Mr. Weasley doesn’t mean we need to enjoy it. He _is_ messing with the man’s job.” Draco looked a bit put out to be scolded for making fun, so Virgo added, “With how poor the Weasleys are, you know they wouldn’t be able to survive for a _week_ if he were sacked.”

Draco looked slightly cheerier at the small dig at the Weasleys financial situation. “You’re too soft, Virgo,” he accused fondly. “If the man didn’t want to get caught, he shouldn’t have bewitched the car. He works in the bloody department dedicated to those crimes—he knew the punishment.”

Virgo raised her eyebrows pointedly. “We all do things we shouldn’t—doesn’t mean we want to get caught. Or are you interested in everyone finding out all _your_ secrets?”

Draco blushed red. Vince and Greg both grinned, shifting eagerly in their chairs. They exchanged glances, as if daring the other to ask Draco what secrets he was keeping to himself.

“We ran into Percy Weasley on the way back down from tea,” Greg declared slowly. “He seems to think that as a _prefect_ he’s protected from Slytherin’s monster.”

“Yeah,” Vince echoed. “Can you believe it, Draco?”

Draco snorted, and then looked pensive. “You know, I have noticed him seeking around a lot recently. I bet you he thinks he’s going to catch the heir to Slytherin single-handedly—maybe he thinks if he helps clear Potter’s name, he’ll share his fortune with the Weasleys.”

Virgo snorted softly. She was quite sure that Percy was sneaking around for quite a different reason than Draco thought.

Draco misinterpreted her sound. “I know you still think Potter’s the heir, Virgo, but I’m telling you, he’s the least likely to be after purifying Hogwarts—best friends with that Mudblood, Granger. The heir’s got to be a Slytherin, or a pureblood, at least. I wish I knew who it was…”

“You must have some idea who’s behind it,” Greg coaxed.

“You know I don’t, Greg,” Draco scoffed. “And Father's hardly told me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either.”

Draco glanced at Virgo, as if in apology, but she was distracted by her own guilt. She hadn’t known if Draco knew that the Chamber had been opened before, but had purposefully kept the information to herself, to keep him out of it.

“Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time,” Draco continued. “But he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it’ll look suspicious if I know too much about it. But I know one thing — last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it’s a matter of time before one of them’s killed this time. . . . I hope it’s Granger.”

“You do _not_ ,” Virgo declared. “First of all, you’re completely full of it if you think we believe you want anyone to die. And secondly, the school was almost closed last time, after the girl died. It was only because they found the supposed culprit that Hogwarts was allowed to stay open. You really want for us to spend the next five years stuck at the Manor with only Mother, Father, and our tutors for company?”

Draco frowned. “I didn’t know that. How do _you_ know that?”

Virgo opened her mouth to explain about Rutherford, when she was distracted by Vince and Greg both jumping up from their seats and running out of the common room with only a vague call about finding a bathroom.

Virgo and Draco exchanged confused looks. “That was weird,” Virgo said.

“Even for them,” Draco remarked. “Perhaps the house-elves put purgatives in the desserts at Christmas tea. It would explain their sudden desire to get to a bathroom.”

Virgo rolled her eyes. Draco seemed to move on from his curiosity about Vince’s and Greg’s behavior easily enough, as he challenged Virgo to a game of chess. They were still playing it forty-five minutes later, when Greg and Vince returned, ashen white.

“Must have been some bathroom break,” Draco called with a crooked grin. Vince and Greg didn’t smile at his joke and collapsed into the chairs heavily.

“We were attacked!” Vince exclaimed.

Draco snorted. Thankfully, he didn’t repeat his theory about the house-elves and laxatives, as Virgo didn’t think Vince and Greg were in the mood to laugh.

“What do you mean?” Virgo asked gently.

“On our way out of Christmas tea!” Greg said. “We were coming back to the common room, but everything went black in the entrance hall, and we woke up locked in a cupboard off the hall, just a bit ago.”

“It was awful,” Vince murmured grimly. “Thought no one was going to come along to let us out. Felt like we were pounding on the door for ages. Finally, a couple of Hufflepuffs who were headed for the library heard us and let us out.”

Draco and Virgo had both straightened, exchanging frightened glances. “Wait… you’re saying that you don’t have any memory since tea?” Draco confirmed.

“Aren’t you listening, Draco?” Greg whined. Virgo thought he was close to tears. “We’ve been in a closet since tea! Why didn’t you come looking for us?”

“I made him promise to stay here until Virgo came back,” Vince whispered. He sent an apologetic look to Virgo, probably for leaving Draco alone in the first place.

“You don’t understand,” Virgo murmured. “You two were here, talking to us, just under an hour ago.”

“We couldn’t’ve,” Vince declared. Greg nodded.

Draco and Virgo exchanged looks. “Do you think they were imperiused?” Virgo asked Draco.

Draco shook his head. “The Imperius Curse doesn’t take away memories.”

“They could have been obliviated,” Virgo pointed out.

“What would’ve been the point?” Draco asked. “No, I bet you it wasn’t them at all—”

“That’s what we’re telling you!” Greg exclaimed.

Draco frowned at him. Virgo couldn’t imagine how frightening it must have been, to have just finished an enjoyable Christmas meal and then have woken up trapped in the dark. “I bet you it was Polyjuice,” Draco guessed. “Their attackers must have needed the real Vince and Greg out of the way, while their imposters were down here.”

“What’s Polyjuice?” Virgo asked.

Draco looked at her. “It’s a restricted potion—it allows the drinker to morph into someone else for an hour.”

Vince and Greg looked at each other. “That might explain the shoes,” Vince grunted.

“The shoes?”

“When we woke up, we were missing our shoes,” Vince explained. “We found them outside the closet. They would’ve needed new shoes, if they turned into us.”

“Thank Merlin they didn’t steal our robes, too,” Greg said softly. Virgo cringed at the thought of them waking up naked in a dark closet.

“Who, do you think?” she asked her brother.

Draco’s face became stony. “Let’s see. Who, out of the twenty-odd people in the castle, would have reason to come down here and question me about who I thought the heir to Slytherin was?”

“Dumbledore?” Virgo guessed.

Draco shook his head. “He’d just slip me truth potion and ask me directly,” he fumed. "No, I’d bet my broom it was Potter and Weasley.”

Virgo, Vince, and Greg exchanged glances. They all seemed to think it was unlikely that two second-years had gotten their hands on a restricted potion, but none of them seemed to want to challenge Draco, now that his mind was set.

* * *

Draco did not stop fuming and plotting against Potter and Weasley for the rest of the night. Virgo wished he would stop, because Greg and Vince still seemed quite traumatized by their experience, and Draco harping on about it couldn’t be helping. Thankfully, once they slipped into bed that night, Draco quieted.

Vince’s snoring had started up, and Virgo was just falling asleep, her face pressed into Draco’s neck and her bare toes sandwiched in between his calves, when he spoke. “You know earlier, when you mentioned my _secrets_?” he whispered.

Virgo took a minute to rouse herself and replay his question. “Yeah?”

“Do you worry about it? About us getting caught?”

Virgo sniffed, burrowing further into his skin. Draco’s arms tightened further around her in response, but he still seemed to be waiting for an answer. Trust her brother to start a serious conversation when she was half-asleep.

“Don’t you?” she finally replied. It was as close as she could get to reminding him that he was the one who declared that they would have to stop, that he was the one paranoid about people finding out.

Draco trailed his fingers up and down her spine. “Not as much, recently. I’ve been thinking; even if people found out what we used to do—and really, the only way they would find out would be to slip us truth potion—we couldn’t really get in much trouble. We didn’t know we were doing anything wrong, and we stopped as soon as we found out. I mean, sure, we might be a little touchier than most siblings, now, but that’s not illegal.”

Virgo swallowed the lump in her throat. “No,” she admitted. “It’s not.”

Draco’s words didn’t seem to indicate that he wanted to go back to any illegal activity anytime soon. The next morning, when Virgo woke up to find his penis hard through their robes, she just rolled away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.
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	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return of term brings with it some new revelations for Virgo and Draco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience on this chapter! If you follow me on tumblr, you'll know that I had some writers block where I realized that some scenes that I thought were necessary were just opening up some questions I didn't know how to answer, and that there were some better scenes to take their place in the next few chapters. I'm really happy with how the outline of the story looks now. Enjoy!

The rest of Christmas break ticked away in a slightly morose fashion for the foursome, although for entirely different reasons for each student.

Virgo had not realized just how much she had hoped she and Draco could go back to their intimate activities until he made clear he was still set against it. She therefore found the hours spent in his bed slightly bitter-sweet.

Vince and Greg, on the other hand, remained traumatized by their attack on Christmas Day. They had figured out that they had been captured via doctored cupcakes, and now were weary of any food that looked a little too appetizing.

Meanwhile, Draco was simply fueled by rage that Potter and Weasley had attacked his friends, used a restricted potion to impersonate them, and would never see any punishment for it.

At first, Virgo had tried to gently dispute Draco’s conclusion that the Gryffindors were responsible, but two days after Christmas, she discovered something that made her abandon all efforts.

She had woken up that morning with blood dotting her night robe. Since October, she had only had her period one other time, so it was still slightly startling to discover. She made her excuses to Draco, Vince, and Greg, who were under the impression that she was headed for the library, and set off for the hospital wing.

She had been unsure of whether Madam Pomfrey would even be in, as it was still early in the morning, and, with only twenty-something students in the castle, she had much less reason to be constantly available. Still, Virgo had forgotten about the victims of the heir of Slytherin. When she walked into the hospital wing, two beds were home to Justin and Colin, staring endlessly at the ceiling. In addition, she could hear Madam Pomfrey’s voice from behind a partially closed privacy screen around another bed.

“You’re really quite lucky that the potion was brewed correctly, dear, and I don’t want to know where you got it—improperly brewed Polyjuice potion can have permanent effects, especially combined with animal hair—”

“How long do you think it will take, to get me back to normal?” A familiar voice asked. Virgo took a minute to place it. The voice had a lofty, careful diction, and was feminine in nature. She walked forward curiously, until she could see through the gap in the curtain—

She yelped. A human-sized cat appeared to be in the hospital bed. The cat and Madam Pomfrey both turned to look at her. Madam Pomfrey rushed to close the curtains around her and the cat-girl, calling out to Virgo that she would just be a minute.

Virgo’s mind raced. Granger. That was who she had heard. It had taken a minute to place the voice, but she had overheard Hermione Granger often enough in the library, lecturing her friends on this or that. And Madam Pomfrey had mentioned Polyjuice Potion—

“What is it that you need, dear?” Madam Pomfrey asked, stepping out of the curtains. Virgo noticed that she was careful to close them behind her, hiding Hermione from view.

Virgo explained that she had her period, and Madam Pomfrey performed the charm expediently. Virgo couldn’t help but think that Madam Pomfrey was a little more terse than usual, likely disapproving of Virgo’s nosiness.

When she left the hospital wing, her mind was racing. She had to find Draco. He had been _right_.

“You won’t believe it,” she announced, sliding into the seat across from Draco at the Slytherin table. Vince and Greg were picking glumly at their food next to him but perked up at her tone.

“That was a quick library trip,” Draco replied. “What won’t I believe?”

Virgo waved her hand, as if to brush off his comments. “I lied; I wasn’t in the library. I went to the hospital wing. And guess who—”

“What’s wrong?” Draco interrupted. “You’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine. Would you listen?”

“Sorry that I’m _concerned_ about my _sister_ ,” Draco griped. “Plus, if you get me sick, I’ll never forgive you.”

Virgo rolled her eyes, and then glanced at Vince and Greg, who were following the conversation closely. She reddened, even as she charged on. “I have my _period_ , alright? I was going to Madam Pomfrey so she could perform the charm,” she hissed.

The three boys reddened. “Oh—you—I didn’t know you had gotten it,” Draco stammered.

“Why would you?” Virgo replied snappily.

Sure, she thought darkly, if Draco had made a habit of sticking his fingers in her vagina again, he would find out that her body had certainly changed since last year, but since he was dead set on never doing _that_ again, there was no way he would know.

“Anyway, that’s not what this is about,” she continued briskly. “Someone else was in the hospital wing.”

Draco had recovered slightly from his embarrassment and was looking around the hall. “Granger’s missing,” he observed. “She wasn’t attacked?”

“No,” Virgo denied, grinning now. “She’s a _cat_.”

The three boys snorted and guffawed. “What do you mean, a cat?” Greg asked.

“I mean, covered head to toe in black fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes—probably has a tail, too. But she can talk and is still human sized,” she explained. “And I overheard Pomfrey—she said it was a result of _Polyjuice Potion_.”

“ _No way_ ,” Draco breathed. “I was right?”

“Seems that way,” Virgo confirmed. “I was thinking—the cat—it looks like Millicent’s cat, Salem. I bet you that Granger was supposed to come with Potter and Weasley to question you, but either she didn’t know that Polyjuice didn’t work with animal hair, or she thought the hair she had was Millicent’s. And now she’s stuck in the hospital wing until Pomfrey can turn her back.”

“You know what this means,” Draco gloated. “I was right—there’s no way that Potter’s the heir to Slytherin. Why would he go through the trouble of using Polyjuice to question me about it, if he was the heir?”

“Yeah,” Virgo sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

She was back to square one.

* * *

It was jarring to have all the students return, after Virgo had gotten so used to her little slice of peace and quiet. She and Draco had needed two trips to bring all of her Christmas presents and the clothes and books she had hoarded in the dungeon back up to Ravenclaw tower. When it was time to say goodbye, Draco hugged her tight in the middle of the Ravenclaw common room, and then disappeared down the staircase. Virgo knew that she would see him in just a few hours at dinner, but it wouldn’t be the same.

Virgo heard the Hogwarts Express’ train whistle twenty minutes before the first wave of students entered the common room. When she finally heard footsteps downstairs in the common room, she threw aside her book and went down to greet her friends. Anthony and Terry waved at her on the way to their dormitory, and Cho gave her a quick hug, despite being deep in conversation with Marietta.

Finally, though, the first years appeared. Several of her classmates called out to her, but Caecius dropped his trunk where he stood, ran to Virgo and spun her around. Unfortunately, Caecius hadn’t quite grown into his height yet, and tripped over the coffee table, sending himself and Virgo sailing into a nearby couch.

“Rubbish!” Aelius shouted. “Four out of ten—you didn’t even stick the landing!”

Virgo giggled, while Caecius righted himself. “But I should get points for landing on the couch instead of the floor,” Caecius argued. “You alright?” he asked Virgo, eyes twinkling.

“Right as rain, no thanks to you,” Virgo teased. “You couldn’t give me five minutes to readjust to your presence before bowling me over?”

“Oi, Avery—get your trunk out of the middle of the common room!” Edmund called out from near the doorway. Caecius rushed to obey his prefect.

“Hi, Virgo,” Claire greeted softly. She had taken up the rear of the group of first-years—apparently finding it difficult to cart her trunk behind her, due to her small stature. “Good break?”

Virgo smiled, extending her arms to embrace her friend. “Sure. A bit glad it’s over, now. I missed you all.”

Claire smiled tiredly. “Me too. Home was exhausting. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to believe that I actually had friends, from how much they were asking me about you all—and meanwhile Roger wouldn’t shut up…”

“I heard that, Claireybeary!” Roger called, from where he had collapsed with some of the other fourth years across the common room. Claire raised two fingers at him, in a gesture that some second-year girls gasped at.

“Come on, I’ll help you bring your trunk up the stairs, and you can tell me about it,” Virgo offered.

“Aw, really?” Caecius whined, as he returned from bringing his trunk up to his dorm. “I had the whole train ride to catch up with this lot, I was hoping to get your report, Virgo. And you know I can’t come up to your dorm with you.”

“Trying to get into the girl’s dorm already, Avery?” Marcus Belby called as he passed. “You’re keen, aren’t you?”

“Sod off, Belby.”

Virgo found herself grinning at the room full of her chattering housemates. She would miss falling asleep next to Draco, but it was nice to have Hogwarts packed and loud again. “Cheer up, Caecius,” she said. “Just let us bring Claire’s trunk up, and then we can go down for an early dinner. I’ll report so much you’ll get sick of my voice.”

* * *

The next several weeks flew by. Virgo hadn’t gotten nearly enough homework completed over break, preferring instead to read novels or play chess or fly with Draco, so she spent several nights at the beginning of term huddled in the library. Luckily, it seemed that several of her classmates were in a similar situation, so they at least had company in their misery.

In addition, the first years found themselves with an additional obligation the last two weeks of January: Madam Pomfrey’s health education class. Virgo had somehow managed to forget that it was approaching until the notice was posted in Ravenclaw common room. Virgo did not find any of the content as revolutionary as Draco had the year before, but she still listened with rapt attention at every session. She finally learned how exactly sexual intercourse led to pregnancy, and what purpose a period served, and what the proper terms were for the parts of her body she rubbed at night. She learned that the wave of pleasure she gave herself was called an orgasm, that the white liquid that came out of Draco’s penis was called sperm, and that when his penis was hard, it was referred to as an erection.

She didn’t know when she would be able to make use of this knowledge with him again, if ever, but it made her happy to have all the information, nonetheless.

Her afternoons were also quite busy. Now that the holidays were over, Troy had started up regular Quidditch practices again. Their next match, against Slytherin, was six weeks away, but Dillon swore that the Slytherin team was going to be their biggest competition for the Quidditch Cup and pushed them harder than ever.

Thankfully, while Virgo was busy with classes and Quidditch, the heir of Slytherin seemed to be taking a break from their mission. Not only had there not been any more attacks, but the students of Hogwarts all had a more positive outlook. As January disappeared into February, the winter chill began to thaw, the days got longer, and people began to look toward the spring, when the mandrakes would reach maturity and the petrified victims would be revived.

Before spring, though, came Valentine’s Day. It seemed to Virgo that the entire school had begun whispering and giggling, thinking about crushes and kisses and dates. One night at the beginning of February, Virgo became an unwilling participant in one such conversation in the Ravenclaw common room.

“Marcus asked you?” Esmerelda repeated gleefully. “Oh, he’s scrummy.”

Cho blushed. She, Marietta, Virgo, and Esmerelda were sitting around a table in the common room. Virgo had asked Marietta for help on her Transfiguration essay, after hearing that she topped the year in McGonagall’s class in the midyear exams. Esmerelda and Cho, on the other hand, were occupied with gossiping.

“He _is_ cute, isn’t he?” Cho murmured. “I never really considered him before—he’s quite loud and confident, you know, it’s a bit intimidating—but since he asked…”

Marietta snorted. “ _Quite_ loud,” she repeated pointedly. “Belby only has one volume, more like it.”

Cho swatted her friend’s arm. “Well, perhaps he’ll be different on our date in Hogsmeade.”

Esmerelda leaned her face into her hand dreamily. “I’m so sad that we can’t go to Hogsmeade until _third year_. I’d love to go on a date…”

Virgo’s classmate flicked her long dark hair over her shoulder as she looked around the common room, as if the boys in the tower room were going to immediately ask her out if they overheard.

Cho smiled but then turned to Virgo. “What about you, Virgo? Got your eye on anyone?”

Virgo blushed. “Not really,” she muttered, keeping her eyes on her essay.

Esmerelda laughed loudly, while Cho’s eyes sparkled. “You _totally_ do,” Esmerelda teased, as Virgo’s blush only increased. “I knew you and Caecius couldn’t be just friends.”

Virgo rolled her eyes. “Caecius and I _are_ just friends.”

“Anthony, then?” Cho prodded gently. “I’ve always thought he liked you.”

“Oh, an _older_ boy,” Esmerelda said gleefully. “Virgo, you’ve been holding out on me.”

Virgo bit her lip. Esmerelda had no idea how much Virgo had been holding out on her, but she didn’t think her friend would be nearly as gleeful to hear about Virgo’s crush on her own brother.

“Would you two let up?” Marietta chided. “I’d like to get to bed _sometime_ tonight, and I promised to help Virgo finish this essay first.”

Esmerelda clicked her tongue in disappointment, but Cho just smiled sweetly at Marietta, who softened. “Sorry, Mari,” Cho murmured.

Marietta busied herself with flicking through Virgo’s Transfiguration book, but her cheeks had pinkened slightly. Esmerelda and Cho moved on to discussing the upcoming Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw quidditch match, instead, while Virgo looked suspiciously at Marietta. When the third-year girl looked up, she shot Virgo a sympathetic smile, and Virgo wondered if she wasn’t the only one with a crush that she couldn’t talk about.

* * *

A few days later, Virgo had a rare afternoon off from Quidditch. None of her classmates questioned it when she waved goodbye to them after Astronomy and headed down to the Slytherin common room.

When she arrived, Draco was lounging dramatically across a couch near the fire, while a few of his classmates chatted around him. Daphne was the first to see her, but she wasn’t able to voice a greeting before Virgo had catapulted herself into Draco’s side.

“ _Oi_ , Virgo,” Draco wheezed, wrapping his arms around her reflexively, even as he winced and sat up. Virgo grinned roguishly at the other second-years as they smiled and rolled their eyes.

Since Christmas, Draco and Virgo had relaxed their unspoken rules about public displays of affection. At first, Virgo was sure that their touches would make tongues wag, or Vince and Greg would let something slip about her spending the break in Draco’s bed, but instead Draco’s classmates only seemed charmed by the siblings’ interactions. Even Tracey, who rarely interacted directly with Virgo, was grinning at her now as she settled into Draco’s side.

“What was that for?” Draco groaned, even as he pulled fondly on Virgo’s braid.

Virgo shrugged amusedly. “You just looked a bit too comfortable. Isn’t it my job as your sister to keep you on your toes?”

“I thought it was your job as my sister to support and adore me,” Draco teased.

Virgo snorted. “I can do both,” she murmured into his ear, as she mussed his hair with her hand.

Draco laughed as he attempted to straighten his locks, but did not respond, and instead turned his attention back to his friends, while Virgo mirrored his position next to him. Nobody paid them any attention as Virgo leaned against his side.

“Trupti told me that Professor Lockhart told her that he’s hiring a bunch of dwarfs to dress up as cupids on Valentine’s Day to deliver Valentines around the school,” Daphne was telling Tracey, Vince, and Greg.

Draco snorted. “What a creep,” he commented. “He’s probably just trying to feed his ego—reminding a bunch of teenage girls to send him Valentine’s.”

“I think it’s nice,” Greg declared thoughtfully. “Easier to send anonymous Valentine’s notes.”

“Oh, yeah?” Daphne prodded Greg in the arm. “Who do you want to be your Valentine, Gregory?”

Greg blushed. “I’m just saying, _some_ people might appreciate it.”

Tracey grinned, eyeing Virgo. “What do you think, Virgo? Are you going to use the opportunity to send Theo a Valentine? Daphne told me you had a crush on him…”

“ _Tracey_ ,” Daphne hissed. Draco tensed next to Virgo, and she resisted turning to see his expression. There was only so much that their friends could ignore. “Anyway, I _also_ said that she might be over it, since she hasn’t been watching him much lately.”

Virgo bit her lip. Theo wasn’t in the common room, and the students closest to them were playing a rowdy game of Exploding Snap. “I never had a crush on Theo,” she admitted softly. “I was watching him because I thought he was the heir to Slytherin.”

Draco startled, turning to look at her in astonishment. “You thought— _Theo_?”

Virgo shrugged. “Something must connect this opening with the last, and Theo’s father was a student last time. I suspected.”

“But now you don’t?” Daphne asked, interestedly.

Virgo looked around the common room again, checking that no one is listening in. “No. When Finch-Fletchley was attacked, Theo was with all of you in Charms. And he was at breakfast right beforehand.”

Tracey leaned forward. “That’s why you’re admitting this to us now,” she concluded. “Because you know none of us are the heir, either.”

Virgo shifted awkwardly. “It did occur to me, yes.”

“What were you going to do, if Theo was the heir?” Draco hissed. “Virgo, you can’t—what if he had realized—”

“Theo wouldn’t hurt a fly, Draco,” Daphne argued.

“Well, Virgo didn’t know that! Going around, sticking her nose into something that’s not her business…”

“It’s all our business,” Virgo said, rolling her eyes. “You all remember what it was like, in the fall, with everyone shunning Slytherin house and whispering about who it could be, who would be attacked next. You really want that?”

Daphne frowned. “I did lose out on quite a bit of gossip, while the whole school thought one of us were behind it—you wouldn’t believe what Hufflepuffs will let slip.”

“Whether or not you want the Chamber to stay open,” Draco continued, staring seriously at Virgo, “Don’t go doing anymore amateur investigating. It’ll be up to the professors and the governors to protect the school, not us.”

“Oi, maybe your father will be the one to catch the culprit!” Greg suggested exuberantly. “Can you imagine the look on Potter’s face if your dad caught them, after he had suspected you?”

Draco smiled, but uncharacteristically, he did not take the chance to fantasize about sticking it to Potter.

An hour later, when Virgo got up to return to her common room before dinner, she found out why. “I’ll walk you,” Draco volunteered, packing up his books. “I might stop by the library before dinner.”

It didn’t take long for Draco to reveal the real reason he wanted to accompany Virgo. They had only walked a few meters down the dungeon corridor when he spoke.

“Promise me you won’t dig into this Chamber of Secrets business any longer?” he requested earnestly.

Virgo turned to look at him. He was observing her solemnly, his grey eyes concerned. “Don’t you want to know who’s behind it?” she asked.

Draco frowned. An older Slytherin was walking toward them, and Draco stayed silent until after he passed. “I think I know who’s behind it,” he muttered.

“What? You do not,” Virgo blurted, appalled, as they climbed the stairs into the entrance hall. “And you let me worry all this time, when I thought Potter was the culprit?”

Draco tilted his head entreatingly. “I’m not _positive_ , and I don’t know whose attacking students, I just know who is involved,” he said slowly, as they began to ascend the marble staircase. “And, well…I didn’t tell you for a reason.”

They quieted again, as a pack of Gryffindor girls passed them, going the other way down the staircase. Virgo made sure their voices had drifted down into the Entrance Hall before responding. “What reason could that be? Did you want to keep me in the dark? You think keeping information from me is going to keep me safe?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m telling you, you’re not in danger,” he scoffed. “The person behind this—they’re after blood purity—scaring muggleborns and blood traitors.”

“I still think you should have told me,” Virgo grumbled, eyeing the words _Enemies of the Heir, Beware_ significantly as they passed them.

“Like you told me about suspecting Nott?” Draco muttered. “Like you told me that last time the Chamber was opened, they thought they found the culprit? Like you told me what you really wanted that _Nature’s Nobility_ book for?”

Virgo stopped abruptly, turning to look at him. They had reached the corridor where they would part ways, while Draco would continue on to the library and Virgo up to her common room. Luckily, it was deserted.

“How do you know what I wanted _Nature’s Nobility_ for?”

Draco quirked an eyebrow. “You’ve never been great at lying to me, Virgo,” he explained wryly. “And I thought it was weird that the manor didn’t have a copy, so I looked it up in the card catalog here. Mother’s letter didn’t mention the subtitle— _Wizarding Genealogy?_ It didn’t take much for me to realize you wanted to look at Slytherin’s line.”

Virgo reddened. She didn’t realize she’d been so transparent. “Alright, yes, I was looking into it—not that it did much good, with neither the Manor nor Hogwarts having a copy. But can you really blame me for not telling you? I had half a mind to think that if you found out who was behind the attacks, you’d have helped them!”

Draco looked down the corridor, warily, and then stepped closer. Virgo had expected that they might be headed for a fight, but her brother only reached out to grasp her wrist in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her skin placatingly.

“You bet your broomstick that I’d help them—or at the very least, leave them to it—and once you find out who’s behind it, I hope you will too,” he whispered urgently.

A rebuke was on the tip of Virgo’s tongue before his words caught up to her. “ _Who_ is behind it, Draco?” she asked urgently.

Draco looked down, where his hand still held her wrist. “I told you, ages ago, Virgo, but now I’m fairly certain. Father. Father is behind it.”

Virgo reeled back, until Draco was forced to release her hand. “No,” she denied. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Draco scoffed. “Wouldn’t he? Think about it, Virgo. The day we left for Hogwarts—you said he referred to this year as important. When you surprised him about trying out for the Quidditch team, before the chamber opened, he said the school governors were the people whose influence he needed most in the coming months—to handle the Chamber business like he wanted! When he came to your match—what did he tell you? That he needed you to stay away from mudbloods and blood traitors, because _if he was successful, life would be more difficult for them soon_. And a week later, the Chamber opened.”

“He was talking about quashing the Muggle Protection Act,” Virgo argued shrilly.

“I’m not done,” Draco hissed. “Then you asked for that _Nature’s Nobility_ book—you know Mother shares your letters with him, since you never seem to write him directly anymore. I’d bet anything that he told her to not give it to you—he must have figured out what you wanted to research—”

“The Manor didn’t have a copy!”

“You don’t really believe that, do you? Come on, Virgo, don’t be gullible. And then, Father realized that if we came home for Christmas break, you’d use the time to ask them more about the Chamber of Secrets—he couldn’t have that, could he? So, he kept us here for break—”

“Oh, now I’m to blame for us staying here over break?” Virgo asked, disbelievingly.

Draco didn’t respond, as he observed her wryly. A small smirk slowly wound its way over his face. “I wouldn’t say to _blame_ , would I? Christmas break wasn’t bad. Unless you have a different opinion of it than I do.”

Virgo blushed. “No, it wasn’t bad,” she admitted. “But that’s—you’re distracting me, Draco! There’s no way—this is all circumstantial!”

Draco shrugged. “Yeah, it is. But I know Father, Virgo. If he didn’t know who was behind this, he would have stormed the castle, bombarded us with owls, tried to get information on it. He would want to ensure the heir’s intention, to either keep us safe or see how he could capitalize on this thing. And what has he done? He hasn’t asked a single thing about it. Because he already knew it was going to happen, and who was behind it.”

Virgo sank back against the stone wall. This, more than anything else Draco had said, spoke to her. Their father was difficult, and exacting, and had a brutal stinging hex, but she never questioned whether he would want them safe. As a school governor, he would’ve been one of the first to have been informed about the Chamber of Secrets’ opening. He would have been party to conversations about how to handle it—whether to release the information to the public, or to keep it under wraps. Blimey, he could have used it to blame Dumbledore for keeping parents out of the loop of their children’s safety, but he hadn’t.

He must have another motive.

Draco seemed to know he had gotten through to her, as he didn’t try to convince her any further. Instead, he just stepped closer to her, until he had trapped her against the wall. “Think about it, okay?” he asked quietly, as he brushed some hair out of her face. “If Father is behind it, we’re best staying out of it—we don’t know what his end game is, and you know what he’ll do if either of us messes up his plans. Just let him do what he needs to.”

Virgo soaked in his touch greedily, even as her brain spun on. “But—Draco—people could _die_. Don’t you care? Do you really think Father could want that?”

Draco sighed. “As long as you and I and my friends are safe, I don’t know that I do. It’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true. And well, Father… I think he could want anything, as long as it helped our family.”

Virgo didn’t know what to say. Sure, she and Father fought plenty, and she knew he could be cold, calculating, but murderous? Murder of school kids, nonetheless?

Her brother sighed again, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Look, I’ll talk to you later, alright? After you think about it. Just… you needed to know.”

With one last pass of his hand over her hair, he turned and walked down the corridor to the library. Virgo, on the other hand, felt as frozen as the petrified students in the hospital wing. She didn’t know how she was supposed to return to the Ravenclaw common room now, talk about classes and Valentine’s Day and Quidditch, after receiving this bombshell.

“Are you alright?”

Virgo looked up. Hermione Granger was observing her concernedly, having just exited the stairwell from the upper floors.

Virgo scoffed. “Never you mind,” she grumbled.

Granger’s brows, which were already bushy, came even closer together as she furrowed them. “You know, I meant to apologize,” she announced after a moment. “For speaking to you, the way I did, months ago in the library. I mean, you did hex Ron right afterwards, but it sounds like he deserved it.”

Virgo narrowed her eyes. “Did you? You mean, now that you know I don’t want the Chamber of Secrets open, you’ll afford me some basic manners? Are you planning on giving Greg and Vince an apology as well? I see that you healed up from your botched Polyjuice well enough. What was last to go? The tail, or the fur?”

Granger’s skin darkened considerably. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Virgo suddenly was able to move again, moreover, she felt the strange urge to run at the second-year, to scream at her, or to storm from the castle altogether. “Oh, don’t you?” Virgo snarled. “So you _didn’t_ think my brother was the heir to Slytherin, and you _didn’t_ concoct a foolhardy plan to impersonate his friends with Polyjuice in order to question him, and you _didn’t_ dose Greg and Vince with sleeping draught and lock them in a closet after stealing their hair and their shoes, and you _didn’t_ get stuck morphed into Millicent’s cat for four weeks?”

Granger shrunk. “It was for the good of Hogwarts. If he _had_ been the heir—”

“If my brother _had_ been the heir, you could have just told a bloody professor, and they would have dealt with it,” Virgo interrupted. “And how do you explain Greg and Vince? Did you think they were in on it? How would _you_ like it if I attacked you on Christmas Day, and trapped you in an enclosed space for hours?”

“I—I didn’t think about it like that.”

“ _Clearly_ ,” Virgo hissed. “Because if you had thought at all—if you knew Draco _at all_ , you would’ve known that the entire idea was bollocks. What’s he done to you, really? Called you and your friends some names? Hexed back when you’ve hexed him? You really thought he’d be capable of attempted _murder_?”

Hermione Granger’s skin had paled considerably. “I—I’m sorry. Maybe I don’t know him as well as I thought I did.”

Virgo nodded viciously and stomped past the Gryffindor to the stairs, heart pattering in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason I really love this last scene? One of my favorites to write.
> 
> Come ask me things or confirm that I'm still alive on tumblr: [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Optional chapter feedback form is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo battles with herself over what to do with her new knowledge about her father.

Draco and Virgo didn’t discuss their conversation outside the library for several weeks. Still, every time that they made eye contact, every time that they laughed at one of Draco’s friends’ stories in the Slytherin common room, every time they huddled together in the library, Virgo felt the weight of her new knowledge acutely. There hadn’t been any attacks since before Christmas break, but Virgo knew it wasn’t over. The guilt and shame pressed in on her from all sides.

Unexpectedly, Draco and Virgo did, however, discuss her conversation with Hermione Granger. Virgo hadn’t anticipated revealing to anyone what she had said to Granger in the library corridor, and she had expected that Granger wouldn’t want to harp on the subject either, except to perhaps inform her two best friends of the conversation. Virgo had not foreseen the extent of a Gryffindor’s righteousness.

Just two days later, Virgo was leaving History of Magic with her classmates when she was accosted by Draco. She knew that he had had double Potions that morning, and therefore was surprised to find that he had made the trip from the dungeons to the first floor History corridor so quickly. Judging from his deep breathing, he had run part of the way.

“My dear sister,” Draco began as he pulled her by the arm away from the crowd. “You don’t happen to have any idea why Granger just apologized to Vince and Greg for drugging them, do you?”

Virgo blanched. She had known that Draco would think that her scolding of Granger was ill-conceived—it was the first rule of being a Slytherin to not reveal to your enemy how much you knew—and therefore hadn’t told him. Anyway, Granger had deserved the dressing down. “…I might,” she admitted.

Draco’s face morphed into a familiar look of fond exasperation. “I guessed as much, considering Granger _did_ mention your name. Since when do you talk to Granger?”

“I don’t,” Virgo grumbled. “It was out of the blue, the other day—I was just minding my own business, and then Granger started talking to me, and one thing led to another, and I sort of lay into her about dosing Vince and Greg. Served her right, to have a bit of her righteousness thrown back at her.”

Draco snorted. “I’d have liked to see that,” he murmured, grinning at her. Virgo’s embarrassment at having been caught washed away in the face of his smile. “Well, it appears your lecture worked—even if I’d have never recommended it. In addition to apologizing, Granger offered to turn herself in to Dumbledore—for the Polyjuice and everything.”

“No _way_ ,” Virgo breathed. “Why in the world would she do that? That has to be an expellable offense.”

“Beats me. But now that I know that she’s feeling properly guilty, and not just trying to taunt Vince and Greg, I know how they should respond to her offer.” The hallway had emptied while they spoke, so the two siblings began to make their way back to the marble staircase, where Virgo would descend down to Herbology and Draco would continue on to the Transfiguration corridor.

“I wonder what Potter and Weasley will do, without Granger around,” Virgo pondered. “One of the Golden Trio—expelled.”

Draco scoffed, turning to stare at her. “You must be joking, Virgo. We’re not going to take her _up_ on the offer to turn herself in.”

“Why ever not? Don’t Vince and Greg want justice?”

“I have a feeling that they’ll be quite less afraid, now that they’ve seen Granger blubbering. Anyway, it will be much more valuable to have one over on her than it would to get her expelled. You never know when having some blackmail on her will come in handy.”

Virgo let out an incredulous laugh. “You never cease to surprise me, Draco.”

Draco grinned, stopping at the top of the stairs, where they would part. Virgo could hear footfall above their heads, but no one remained in their vicinity. “You have Quidditch practice this afternoon?”

Virgo nodded, sighing. “You’d think that our match was tomorrow, from the way Troy is carrying on.”

Draco laughed. “Flint, too. Well, maybe I’ll come along—you know, spy on the competition,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t you dare, you cheat,” Virgo teased, shoving him in the shoulder.

“It’s not cheating, it’s just smart,” Draco retorted. “Anyway, I’ll see you after dinner, then? You have a Potions essay due next week, don’t you?”

Virgo nodded, still smiling fondly.

“Well, until then, dear sister,” Draco murmured, with warm eyes. He swayed towards her, laying a kiss on her cheek. “Go on, then, don’t want you to be late to Herbology.”

The bell rang as Virgo was crossing the lawn to the greenhouses, losing Virgo five points from Ravenclaw, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

* * *

Valentine’s Day passed with relatively little note for the first-years. Virgo, in her heart of hearts, had wondered whether Draco would send her an anonymous Valentine’s note, but the day passed without any of the dwarfs stopping her at all. Likewise, the other first-years giggled and watched as the dwarfs recited words and songs of adoration to the older students, but it seemed that none of them had gotten up the courage to send any notes to their own crushes, nor received any themselves.

After the holiday had come and gone, February verified itself as the shortest calendar month by passing quick as a wink. Before Virgo knew it, the snow that had collected on the grounds was beginning to melt, and the Easter holidays were nearing. Virgo could hardly believe that her first year of Hogwarts was almost three quarters over. Still, before the Easter holidays arrived, Virgo would have to get through one highly anticipated event: the Ravenclaw v. Slytherin Quidditch match.

Despite Dillon Troy’s sometimes excessively methodical captaining (after a particularly grueling practice, Page explained in hushed tones to Anthony and Virgo that the closer Troy’s NEWTs loomed, the more Dillon threw himself into Quidditch), Virgo had grown to appreciate his leadership. Therefore, when he called her aside after one practice a week before the match, she waited solemnly while the rest of their teammates cleared out.

“Walk with me, Malfoy,” Dillon commanded genially, leading her out of the locker room and onto the twilit grounds. They walked several paces down the path back to the castle before he spoke again. “I usually wouldn’t think to say anything, but after that fuss with your parents this fall, well…”

Dillon sighed, glancing at Virgo, who was frowning, silent. Her parents? What about her parents? Troy couldn’t know about Lucius’ role in the Chamber of Secrets, could he? Surely, he would have told a professor, if he did?

“With us playing Slytherin, and your brother being their Seeker, I thought you might want to give some thought to how this match might turn out. I know you and your brother are close, but with Quidditch, well… emotions can be heightened. You should see some of the fights my cousins and I get into, after a backyard game…And I won’t even try to guess at your parents’ response, if we were to beat your brother’s team, after they financed their brooms.” Dillon ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I’m saying—I’d rather know up front, if there’ll be something distracting you next match, that will make you play less than your best. Will there?”

Unexpectedly, Virgo smiled. She _had_ been worried about the upcoming match and playing Draco’s house, but when she asked Draco about it, he had been unconcerned.

“We play different positions, Virgo,” he had answered blandly. “I want you to play well as much as I want to do my best—those things don’t get in the way of each other. Although I don’t anticipate that you will be able to score enough goals to make up for me _undoubtedly_ catching the snitch, so you’d better make your peace with losing to Slytherin now.”

Virgo had rolled her eyes and given him a wet willy as payback, which had resulted in Draco pinning her to the couch and tickling her until she shouted at him to stop.

“I gravitated to Chaser for a reason,” she now admitted to Dillon, thinking back to the time she was five and Draco had gotten his first real broom from their father, and immediately proclaimed that he would live to be a better seeker than even Roderick Plumpton. “Draco always knew that he wanted to be a Seeker, and I knew better than to compete directly with him. I can play my hardest without affecting his play.”

“But both your teams can’t win,” Troy pointed out.

Virgo laughed. “Yes, well… My brother’s not the best team player,” she confessed, trying to contain her fond smile. “I don’t think he cares much if Slytherin wins, as long as he catches the snitch. And, I bet you he thinks the same of me—that I don’t care if we win, as long as I play well. That’s bollocks, of course. I want us to win.”

Troy smiled. “Well, I suppose you’ll just have to score enough goals to make sure it doesn’t matter who catches the snitch,” he announced. “Now, if you are committed to us winning, I need to ask: is there anything Chang should know that will help her play against your brother?”

Virgo’s mind whirred. She thought about how Draco’s left grip strength was vastly inferior to his right, how he always came up on the Snitch from below, but when he feinted he came from above, how he always became too focused on the Snitch when it was in his sights, and didn’t keep an eye out for Bludgers, how the Nimbus Two Thousand and One was fast, but it was a longer broom than Draco was used to and made for wider turns. She thought of all this, but she didn’t say any of it.

“Well, you saw in the Gryffindor match,” Virgo said at last, as they reached the doors to the Entrance Hall. “He’s… physical. He likes to test what he’ll get away with—blatching, cobbing. Cho should watch herself. We don’t need any more injuries.”

“So, he’s a typical Slytherin,” Troy grumbled. “I guessed as much, but alright. I’ll let Chang know.” He pat Virgo on the shoulder in a jovial way, and continued on to the Great Hall, where he sat down with some of the other seventh year Ravenclaws.

Virgo sighed. She wondered if Draco would be similarly reticent if asked for inside information on _her_ flying.

* * *

In the week leading up to the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match, tensions grew between their respective houses. Ravenclaw house usually got along with Slytherin better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor did, but the Slytherin Quidditch team did not seem to maintain any loyalty to their closest ally now. Many of Virgo’s teammates were suspiciously hexed in the hallways in the days preceding the match. No one thought it a coincidence that a Slytherin was always passing by at the time of the hexing.

Despite proving herself as a capable player in the last match, and therefore worthy of intimidation or sabotage, Virgo did not find herself hexed that week. At first, she thought this was a result of being seen as an honorary Slytherin herself, or else a result of Draco banning his teammates from harming her, but neither was the case.

It seemed obvious, in hindsight. Monday and Tuesday, she had run into Vince and Greg numerous times, passing between classes. She hadn’t thought anything of it, at the time, as she had become much more friendly with the two boys since the time spent with them over Christmas break. It seemed entirely normal that Vince would walk with her from Charms down to the Potions classroom, citing having to get something from his dorm, or that Greg would be in the Astronomy corridor just as Virgo was leaving her second period class.

But when Wednesday arrived, and she exited Herbology to find Vince arriving, out of breath, right outside the greenhouse, Virgo could no longer feign ignorance. “Vince,” she greeted, as her classmates eyed the Slytherin suspiciously. “What’s your excuse this time? Needed to fetch something from the Forbidden Forest?”

Vince wrinkled his nose. “I _told_ Draco it would be bloody obvious,” he muttered. “Come on, then, you have History of Magic, next, don’t you? I’ll explain on the way.”

Virgo expected her Slytherin friend to begin speaking once the rest of her classmates advanced far enough ahead of them to not overhear, but when she turned to prompt Vince, he just elbowed her pointedly. “Alright, Derrick, Bole?” he called across the lawn.

Two boys in Slytherin robes lumbered past, nodding at Vince as they went. Despite their exchanged greetings, Bole and Derrick seemed as suspicious of Vince as Virgo’s classmates had been.

When Virgo and Vince entered the entrance hall, and Bole and Derrick disappeared down the stairs to the dungeons, Vince turned to Virgo and gave her a pointed look. “What do you think would have happened if Bole and Derrick had passed by you without me there?”

Virgo gave him an incredulous look. “You’re saying that you and Greg have been tailing me to protect me from your own housemates?”

Vince rolled his eyes. “We haven’t been _tailing_ you; that would be creepy. But Draco knows your schedule, so he’s been having us trade off escorting you between classes—especially during periods where you’re near any of his teammates. We knew Bole and Derrick had Care of Magical Creatures last period. If I hadn’t been there, you would have ended up in the hospital wing for sure. But they’re not going to hex you in front of me.”

“Why doesn’t Draco just tell them to knock it off? Or escort me himself?”

Vince scoffed. “You’re the competition, Virgo. How would it look if he asked them to go easy on you? He’d be better off quitting the team outright. And he thought his intentions would be more obvious if he personally escorted you everywhere.”

It was true, Virgo probably would have caught on quicker if it had been only Draco meeting up with her in the hallways, although it still stung a bit that he wasn’t willing to take a stand with his teammates for her. “Well, it’s unfair that Draco expects you and Greg to follow his dumb plan,” she grumbled. “I can look out for myself.”

Vince scoffed. “Yeah, because you would _never_ ask us to act as a bodyguard for Draco,” he deadpanned.

“The heir of Slytherin is a bit more dangerous than _Bole_ , I think,” Virgo defended.

Vince shrugged. “Maybe. I heard Pucey’s Jelly-Brain Jinx was so strong that Burrow had to stay overnight in the infirmary.”

“That’s just because Madam Pomfrey didn’t realize that the jinx had worn off since Burrow’s so naturally thick,” Virgo joked.

Vince snorted, just as they arrived outside the History of Magic classroom. “Listen—could you just humor Draco? I’d really rather not deal with his whining if he found out that I told you what we were up to.”

Virgo rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Then I’ll see you after this period?”

“Nah, it’s Greg’s turn next. Now, would you hurry up and get inside? I’d love it if I could be on time to class _once_ this week—the number of points we’ve lost Slytherin…”

Vince might have acted put upon, but he dawdled by the door until Virgo was seated next to Claire and had begun taking out her quill and parchment. Virgo rolled her eyes even as she waved goodbye good-naturedly.

Despite her incredulity with the entire exercise, Greg and Vince’s loyal escort service did keep Virgo safe until Saturday morning. Virgo’s teammates looked a little worse for the wear the morning of the match, as Virgo knew they had all spent at least a few hours in the hospital wing that week and had likely missed out on some sleep as a result. Luckily, once Madam Hooch’s whistle sounded, the Ravenclaws seemed to leave their tiredness on the ground.

Virgo, Roger, and Randolph quickly scored a goal apiece, despite the Slytherin Chasers’ aggressive defending. Virgo had never played against such dirty players, even in all the backyard games she had played as a child. Fifteen minutes in, Flint literally punched Virgo out of the way so that she couldn’t catch Roger’s pass, earning Ravenclaw a penalty shot and Flint a talking-to from Madam Hooch. Five minutes later, Virgo barely avoided being pummeled on both sides, as Bole and Derrick had each batted a Bludger directly at her. She only managed to get away unscathed as a result of a lucky turn and Troy’s expert defending.

If Draco found his teammates’ attacks of his sister irksome, he didn’t seem to show it, as he continued concentrating on the Snitch. Cho, for her part, was managing to stay out of danger, as she had strict instructions to keep away from Draco unless he was directly engaging with the Snitch.

Despite Slytherin’s less than legal tactics, the Ravenclaw chasers were able to leap into the lead. An hour into the match, Ravenclaw was up one hundred and eighty to fifty. Still, Virgo was worried how long they could keep up their lead. She was feeling quite battered and bruised, not to mention winded, and Goldstein had had to come in for twenty minutes as Roger was tended to by Madam Pomfrey, after he had been pelted in the side by one of the Bludgers.

Virgo had just put the Quaffle past Bletchley one more time, when the crowd noise doubled. Cho was speeding down the pitch after the Snitch. She was getting closer and closer, but the Slytherin team all had the speed of their brooms on their side. Bole and Derrick were both closing in on her, and Draco was on her tail.

The Snitch banked unexpectedly, and Cho swung around after it, managing not to lose much momentum. Unfortunately, that put her in Bole’s range. Virgo watched as he pelted the closest Bludger towards Ravenclaw’s seeker. Troy and Inglebee both rushed to protect her.

But it was unnecessary. While everyone had been focusing on the Bludger, Draco had pulled off an absurd spin move that allowed him to circumvent the commotion, pull underneath Cho, and steal the Snitch right out from under her nose. As soon as he raised the Snitch into the air, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and summoned the Bludgers back to the ball chest with her wand.

Virgo shook her head disbelievingly, as her brother made a lap of the pitch with the Snitch in his hand. Draco had pulled it off. Slytherin had won, two-hundred to one-ninety. And he hadn’t fouled a single person to do it.

Virgo tried to hide her smile as she landed next to her teammates and exchanged comments and praise of each other’s flying. She noticed that the Ravenclaw stands did not rush the pitch as they had last match. The Slytherins, on the other hand, were storming down from the stands. Virgo watched as Bole and Derrick hoisted her brother into the air, amongst cheers.

“Virgo.”

Virgo turned, expecting to find Caecius or one of her other friends, coming to give her compliments despite the loss. Instead, she found her father, waiting by the stands to the center box, where the professors usually sat. He was accompanied by two other men in expensive robes whom Virgo vaguely recognized from their annual Yule balls.

“Father. I didn’t know you were coming.” She broke away from her housemates to join him and his companions. Although Lucius didn’t hug her, despite the four months since they’d seen each other, he did reach out as soon as she was near, to brush dirt off her uniform.

“You’re filthy, Virgo,” he admonished quietly.

His companions chuckled. “Lucius, give the girl a break, she just played _Quidditch_. You can’t expect her to be perfectly presentable after.”

“Especially a match like that,” the other man agreed. “How many times did the Bludgers barely miss her, do you think?”

Lucius rolled his eyes. “Yes, well, if those boys knew what was good for them, they wouldn’t be hitting any Bludgers at her at all,” he grumbled.

The two men laughed. “If we hear that the Slytherin beaters have been replaced next year, we’ll know who to blame,” the first man jeered.

“Oh, look—your son is coming over. All hail the champion!”

Draco was smirking widely as he strolled across the pitch from where the Slytherin house remained in a pack, celebrating their victory. “Father! What a surprise. Did you see my catch?”

Despite calling out to their father, once Draco joined the group, he immediately swept Virgo into a jubilant hug. Virgo laughed. His embrace was so enthusiastic that she barely kept on her feet.

“Everyone in the stadium saw it, Draco,” Lucius scoffed, as Virgo and Draco detangled themselves, grinning at each other. “Still, it was indubitably very skilled.”

“I’ll say! I’ll be asking for the name of your Quidditch tutor, Lucius, once my Jeremy gets to the right age. Both your children, such talented flyers…”

Lucius’ lip quirked up into a small smirk. “Draco, Virgo, you remember Mr. Viridian and Mr. Undercliffe, don’t you? They are both Hogwarts School Governors with me…”

Virgo and Draco curtsied and bowed, respectively, on cue, although the effect was ruined a bit by their dirty Quidditch leathers. The two men smiled genially at them, nonetheless.

“You must forgive the intrusion on your family reunion,” Mr. Undercliffe said to Draco and Virgo. “After seeing you both fly in the last two matches, we simply had to have Lucius introduce us to pay our compliments!”

“The Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff game?” Mr. Viridian added to Virgo. “The number of goals you scored—and you nearly doubled it today! Good showing, indeed.”

“Not that it was a match for young Draco,” Mr. Undercliffe pointed out. “Still was able to ensure victory for his house. Although there doesn’t seem to be much sibling rivalry between the two of you, based on your greeting.”

Virgo and Draco looked at each other. “Well, if Draco ever wanted to try out for Chaser, it would be a different story,” Virgo quipped. “But he knows better than to be shown up by his _sister_.”

Draco snorted, and pinched Virgo’s side in response. She giggled and squirmed away.

Mr. Undercliffe and Mr. Viridian chuckled, but Lucius did not seem amused. “Keep a little decorum, for my sake, would you? Six months away from home and the two of you are acting completely unseemly.”

Virgo and Draco both blushed and inched away from each other. Thankfully, Lucius’ colleagues seemed to disagree with their father. “It’s good to see two siblings get along so well,” Mr. Viridian complimented. “Must make for less drama at home, doesn’t it, Lucius? Anyway, we should leave you to your catching-up, now that we’ve passed along our compliments. Don’t you think, Antonio?”

Mr. Undercliffe seemed to agree, and after shaking Lucius’ hand, they both strode off across the pitch.

Lucius watched them go, and then turned back to Draco and Virgo. “Would it kill you to remember a _modicum_ of your etiquette lessons in front of my esteemed colleagues? You are getting to the age that people will begin to suspect quite damaging fictions if you two continue to be too affectionate with each other.”

Virgo didn’t dare turn to look at her brother’s expression, but she could guess at it, based on the way he had frozen in her peripheral vision. “Mr. Undercliffe and Mr. Viridian didn’t seem to mind,” she pointed out, hoping to keep their father from analyzing Draco’s expression too closely. “They seemed to find it charming that we get along.”

Lucius regarded her tiredly. “Yes, but we can’t depend on all witches and wizards thinking the same thing. Some would like to tear me down with any means available, and even the appearance of impropriety would do significant damage to our family’s reputation.”

Draco and Virgo didn’t respond. Usually, Draco took the lead in difficult conversations with their father, but he seemed stunned silent. Virgo resisted elbowing him in the side, for fear that the action would look indecorous, even if in an entirely different way than their father had meant.

“We’re sorry, Father,” Virgo said at last. “We’ll be more careful around your colleagues in the future.”

Lucius sighed. “I’d appreciate that. Especially now… I need the other Governors’ respect more than ever.”

Draco finally seemed to unclench. “Because of the Chamber of Secrets?” he asked. “Have there been any new developments?”

Lucius narrowed his eyes. “You would know better than me, of course,” he said slowly. “The students hear about attacks before your headmaster informs the Board.”

Draco and Virgo exchanged glances. “Of course, Father,” Draco replied. “We just thought… you might know… might have some understanding of what was coming…”

Lucius coughed violently and looked around. “I don’t know why you would think that. I am as uninformed as the rest of the parents,” he enunciated, and for a moment, Virgo wondered if maybe they were wrong, but then Lucius seemed to consider his words, and continued. “It does seem extremely strange to me that the heir would take such a long break since the last attack, but of course, _I am uninvolved_ , so I cannot guess as to the intentions. I can assure you that I’m sure we would know if the Chamber were closed, or the heir was caught. Until that time, you both should heed my previous warnings and _stay out of trouble_.”

“Yes, Father,” Draco and Virgo chorused.

* * *

If Virgo had had any doubts to her father’s involvement with the Chamber of Secrets' opening after his speech after the Quidditch match, they had dwindled by the time the Easter holidays had arrived the next week. Virgo and Draco had been planning on both taking the Hogwarts Express back to London for the short break, since, they thought, enough time had passed since the raid of the Manor to allow them to return home. They hadn’t anticipated both of them receiving a letter from home the day after the match, informing them that Lucius and Narcissa would be spending Easter in France, and therefore would not be available to host their children at the Manor for the break.

“It’s settled,” Draco whispered to Virgo the next day, as they sat in the courtyard during morning break. “Father knows we’re on to him and is trying to avoid our questions until this entire business is over.”

Virgo agreed, but that was where they left the conversation. She had been working since Halloween to figure out who was responsible for the attacks, but now that she knew, she had no idea what to do with the information. She knew without asking that Draco was committed to staying out of it, and she did not want to go against his wishes to avoid their father’s wrath. Still, she worried about what would happen if his plans succeeded. She worried that the Chamber of Secrets would not close until someone died.

But Easter came and went without any attacks. Unlike Christmas break, most students had chosen to stay at school for the short holiday, as fewer people were scared of the Heir of Slytherin after such a long time between attacks. The fifth and seventh years were beginning to panic about their upcoming OWLs or NEWTs, and even the other years were beginning to think about the end of year examinations. Therefore, Virgo spent most of the break in the library with various groupings of her friends.

As much as she appreciated her friends’ company, a bit of her ached for the intimacy of Christmas Break, when she had an excuse to spend nights in Slytherin. Now, there were quite too many people around to risk such an abnormal behavior. If Draco would even let her.

Apart from convincing Virgo that Lucius was indeed behind the attacks, their conversation after the match had had another consequence: Draco was culling their physical affection, again. At first, Virgo hadn’t noticed, convinced that it must be a coincidence that Draco took to sitting in the armchairs in the common room, rather than the couch where they could lean against each other, that there was always a seat open across from him at the Slytherin table instead of next to him, that she was imagining it if he wasn’t touching her nearly as much. But then, when she did reach out to him, she noticed that he flinched away—not obviously, not overtly, but in an effort to shorten the touch, nonetheless.

Virgo waited until the end of the Easter holidays to say something. By the Sunday before classes would resume, she had had enough—they had had a lovely afternoon together, flying leisurely around the grounds, but Draco had pulled away from her when she had swayed into him when they were walking back to the castle.

“Would you stop that?” she hissed, stopping in her tracks. The path from the pitch wound by the forest, the gamekeeper’s hut, and the greenhouses before arriving at the front doors. There was no one around to overhear, unless someone was lurking in the trees.

Draco stopped, his spine suddenly straight as he turned back to her. He had been waiting for her to say something, she realized. He had been dreading it. “Stop what?” he hedged.

“Stop—stop flinching away! Stop putting distance between us! I thought we were past this.”

Draco scowled, but at least her words made him stop avoiding the subject. “You heard Father—the ‘appearance of impropriety’ and all,” he mumbled, before steeling himself. “I thought we could get away with being affectionate, without anyone thinking anything of it, but he’s right, even the accusation, even if no one actually believes it, would do damage to our family’s reputation.”

“Forgive me if I don’t care much what Father thinks,” Virgo snarked. “He’d like to blame it on us, but he’s done more damage to our family’s reputation than anyone else. You saw how the other Governors reacted—they thought it was cute! No one cares if we’re affectionate.”

“No, but they would care if they knew what we have _done_. And Father’s words are a reminder of how dangerous it is—that someone could come to the right conclusion. That it’s wrong.”

Virgo scoffed. “I refuse to take Father as the moral authority on anything. All he’s ever thought about is family and status, not right and wrong.”

Draco couldn’t argue with that. “Fine, then listen to _me_ ,” he snapped, stepping towards Virgo. “I researched it, this week—incest. _Criminal_ cases. It’s wrong, morally wrong. All the cases argue that family ties are coercive. That people think that they can’t say no, that it’ll damage the relationship—”

“Oh, don’t do that,” Virgo interrupted. “Don’t pretend— _we both want it_ , Draco. I know you do—normal brothers don’t watch their sisters wank, you prat!”

Draco froze. “What are you talking about?”

Virgo blushed slightly. “Last summer. That day—after Quidditch, when I was on my bed after a bath, and I was… masturbating, and I heard the door open, and—”

Draco’s jaw dropped. “You _knew_? You knew I was there?”

Virgo shrugged one shoulder as she looked at the ground. “I suspected. I didn’t want to open my eyes, to scare you off. But then, after I finished, I heard the door close, and with the way you acted afterwards…”

She looked up, surprised to find that Draco’s face had gone completely red. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I shouldn’t have… your privacy…I can’t believe you knew.”

“Oh, shut up,” Virgo cut off his babbling. “I didn’t bring it up to make you feel bad. I’m just saying—brothers don’t lurk in their sister’s room watching them masturbate unless they like it. Unless they want to do things with her. So don’t give me some shite about not wanting it. You want it. I know you do.”

“Of course, I want it!” Draco exploded, with an incredulous expression over his face. “ _You_ don’t want it—you can’t want it—”

“Oh, yes, I do,” Virgo protested. “I think I know my feelings better than you, thanks.”

“You just _think_ you want it,” Draco argued, frowning. “Because I’ve brainwashed you, or something. Or you were always afraid to say no, when I wanted to touch you—Merlin, I made you promise that I could touch you whenever I wanted—”

“Yeah, and I liked that,” Virgo murmured forcefully. “That you’d just… use me, wouldn’t think anything of it, would wake me up just to play…”

Draco looked vaguely nauseous. “I think you just liked pleasing me so much… face it, Virgo, you have always been abnormally devoted to me.”

The words were hardly out of his mouth before Virgo was shoving him. “You—complete— _imbecile_ ,” she yelled, pushing him further with each word. “I like pleasing you so much that I can't say no to you? Because I’m so _intimidated_ by you? Because I’m afraid of arguing with you? Because I don’t have a _brain_ , and can’t think for myself?”[1]

“You know that’s not what I’m saying—”

“I _do_ like pleasing you, Draco,” Virgo seethed. “Generally, people _like_ pleasing the people they love. You know, making them feel good. And you know what makes me feel good?” She stepped close to him, so that he needed to look down to look in her eye. “Having you shove your fingers inside me.”

Draco finally seemed shocked silent from her frank words. Virgo stepped away.

“So if you don’t want to do it anymore, fine. If you don’t want to be affectionate anymore, I’ll have to accept that. But don’t try to say that you’re doing this _for_ me, or that you know what I want more than I do. Because you haven’t touched me for the better part of a year and a half, and I’ve _never_ stopped wanting it.”

And with that, Virgo stomped away from her brother, leaving him alone to battle his own delusions.

* * *

Virgo woke up Monday morning unsure of where their exchanged words left them. Were she and Draco in a fight now? Should she give him a wide berth, or she should she pretend nothing had happened? Or instead, would he find her that day, finally convinced that she wanted it, and willing to give in to his desire?

Instead, none of it happened. Draco didn’t seek her out, but when Greg called her over to their table in the library that afternoon, he treated her normally. He didn’t ask to speak to her alone. He didn’t flinch away when she touched him, even if he didn’t lean into it, or reciprocate.

It was the same for the rest of the week. He offered to help her write her potions essay on Wednesday without prodding, he greeted her cheerily when she visited the Slytherin common room the next day, and Friday afternoon, he suggested that they finally try to find the secret passageway that Cyrilla Malfoy had mentioned at the beginning of the year.

But he _did_ stare. She caught him staring in the middle of dinner, when she was sitting at the Ravenclaw table laughing at one of Aelius’ stories; she caught him staring when she was working on her homework across from him in the library; she caught him staring when she was playing wizarding chess against Abilene in the Slytherin common room.

But every time she caught him, he would shake himself and look away, never speaking a word of it.

By Saturday, she was glad to have the weekend, as at least she knew what to expect from it. Like usual, Claire woke her at the crack of dawn, until Virgo groaned and got dressed. They walked down to the library in silence, where Madam Pince unlocked the library doors for them (she had warmed marginally to Virgo, but she still reserved her best smile for Claire). And soon enough, Abilene joined them, where the girls worked in companionable silence for several hours until they broke for breakfast, and then returned to the library to do the same thing for the rest of the day.

The library was even more empty than usual this weekend, so Virgo was able to forget the limbo she found herself in with Draco and just concentrate on school—on switching spells, and the Wideye Potion, and star grass. She was so focused that the hours slipped by without notice. She only noticed how late it had gotten when Abilene said something.

“Virgo—weren’t you going to go to the match?” she murmured, without looking up from her Astronomy textbook. “Only, it’ll be starting soon, won’t it?”

Virgo looked down at her watch and cursed. The Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff match would start at half-past eleven, and it was almost quarter past now. She rushed to gather her things, throwing her bag over her shoulder. In her haste to get to the door, she nearly crashed into Penelope, who was also leaving the library.

“Going to the match?” Penelope asked with a smile. “I wouldn’t usually care, but Percy has been bragging about Gryffindor’s team…”

Virgo nodded, as they turned right out of the library. “Troy wants us to take notes on Gryffindors’ playing style, for our spring match up—we still have a chance at the cup. He’ll kill me if I'm late.”

“Wait!”

The two Ravenclaws turned, in front of the stairs down to the second-floor. Hermione Granger was running after them, hair in disarray and waving a piece of parchment in the air.

“Wait! I’ve figured it out— _it’s a basilisk_!”

Penelope and Virgo exchanged looks. “Pardon?” Penelope said.

“Slytherin’s monster—it’s a basilisk—everyone’s been petrified because no one’s looked directly into its eyes, but it makes sense—Slytherin was a Parselmouth, he could’ve controlled a basilisk, and it can live for hundreds of years, and Hagrid said someone’s been killing the school’s roosters—”

Virgo looked behind them, at the stairs down to the second floor. “All the attacks… they’ve been in the next corridor…”

Penelope was digging through her bag. “I think I’d take being petrified over being killed, wouldn’t you say?” She pulled out a compact mirror.

Hermione looked at Penelope in a mixture of awe and gratitude. “That’s smart!”

Penelope shrugged. “I have my moments.” She started down the stairs yet again. “Now, come on, we’ll be late for the match.”

Virgo snorted. The three girls continued down the stairs in silence, and then stopped, huddled on the last step. Despite Penelope’s unruffled attitude, her hand was shaking slightly as she held the mirror up. They all peered into the small glass, watching as Penelope turned it this way and that to look around the next corridor.

And then Virgo saw a pair of yellow eyes, and she knew no more.

* * *

Footnotes:

  1. I just want to make clear that Virgo's words do not reflect my personal opinion of consent or survivors of sexual assault. Being afraid to say no does not mean that that person is not able to think for themself-- Virgo is both being glib and only commenting on her relationship with Draco, and that she would feel comfortable saying no to him. Back to Story



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Ooops?
> 
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	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco adjusts to a world with Virgo petrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being so long, yikes.

### Interlude

Draco wished that he could say that he knew as soon as it happened. He wished that he could say that he sensed it, that the world suddenly seemed off balance, that he struggled to breathe, that life stopped having meaning.

But none of the Malfoys had had any talent in Divination in six centuries, so while Virgo was lying lifeless on the stairs to the library, Draco was completely unaware. Instead, he was busy mocking Potter, wondering out loud what fake crisis Potter would have _this_ match. When McGonagall walked onto the field with a megaphone, he called out to the Slytherin stands, “Oh, look, Potter’s gotten his head of house in on the plot. What’s the excuse now, Potter?”

When McGonagall announced that the match had been cancelled, the stadium devolved into whispers about another attack. Draco frowned and remained silent, even as Greg and Vince questioned him about whom he thought had been attacked this time. Honestly, Draco was a bit curious about which mudblood had been the newest victim. But he also knew that this attack would only bring Virgo more angst. Draco knew that she was undecided about the right course of action, weighted down with the knowledge of their father’s involvement. He would have to remind her again of their familial duty to keep quiet.

“Mr. Malfoy,” called a familiar drawl. Draco had begun to follow the rest of the Slytherins down from the stands, back to their common room as Professor McGonagall had instructed, but Professor Snape was standing in the middle of the stairs, like a rock in a stream. “Come with me.”

The whispers doubled. Clearly, the other Slytherins thought, like Draco did, that someone had accused him of being responsible for the attack.

“Professor Snape,” Greg declared. “Draco was with me and Vince all morning, he couldn’t’ve—”

Vince chimed in. “Yeah, whoever accused him is just prejudiced—”

“ _Silence._ Mr. Malfoy, after me. _Now_.” Draco shrugged at Vince and Greg as he followed his Head of House down the stairs. The rest of the Slytherins parted to let them by, their eyes following Draco as if he were headed to the gallows. Draco held his head high.

In typical fashion, Snape did not speak as he led Draco from the stadium, down the path, and into the entrance hall. Draco struggled to keep up with his Head of House’s long strides.

Meanwhile, his mind whirred. Someone must have found out about his father’s involvement. His mind briefly flitted to Virgo, but no—she wouldn’t have told anyone, especially without warning him first. Someone else must have found out. How could his father be so stupid—to leave any tracks? Draco would have thought Lucius would’ve lined up a patsy.

Or maybe the professors were just trying to intimidate Draco, to see what he knew. Well, that wouldn’t work. He would never betray his father’s trust. He only hoped that his sister would be similarly silent.

He was so deep in thought that he almost crashed into Snape when he stopped and whirled to face Draco. Professor Snape looked up and down the corridor, as if to confirm that they were alone, and then turned to Draco, his dark eyes boring into Draco’s own.

“There’s been another attack,” Professor Snape enunciated.

Draco frowned and resisted rolling his eyes. “Yes, we gathered that, sir,” he drawled. “What mudb—muggleborn was it this time? And what do you need with me? Greg and Vince told you—I’ve been with them all morning.”

“Silence,” Professor Snape commanded again, but it was without his usual force. “It appears that the heir is raising the stakes. _Three_ students were attacked. Only one was a muggleborn.” He paused. “One was your sister.”

Draco snorted humorlessly. He tried to ignore how his heart had begun to beat faster. “No. You’re—you’re joking. She’s the _last_ person the heir would want to attack—we’re as pureblooded as you can get.”

Snape’s frown deepened. “I am not joking. Like the others, she’s petrified, and she will be revived, but it will be several weeks—”

“No! Stop—she was coming to the match; she’s probably headed up to the Ravenclaw common room right now—”

Draco turned back down the hall, to where students were beginning to stream up the marble staircase to their various common rooms. He’d show Snape. He’d gotten into the Ravenclaw common room before, he could again. He’d find Virgo and show Snape he was wrong. She couldn’t be—

“ _Draco_.” Snape clasped his hand around Draco’s arm, whirling him back. “I am not lying; I am not mistaken. I wanted to warn you, before you see her. She’s petrified; it will be a shock—”

“ _No!_ ” Draco yelled, pulling out of Snape’s grasp.

This time, instead of heading after the wave of students towards Ravenclaw tower, he turned the other way, and raced towards the Hospital Wing. When he reached the double doors, he threw them open so hard that they crashed against the stone walls. There was a group huddled just inside—Professor McGonagall, accompanied by Potter and Weasley. Draco, for once, did not acknowledge the Gryffindor idiots at all, as he was instead searching the beds next to them.

“ _No_ ,” Draco whispered. Virgo was lying, frozen, on the bed closest to him, her eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling. It was then, that he finally understood.

It was then, that he stopped being able to breathe.

It was only when the nurse started patting his back and muttering, “Deep breaths, child, she’s only petrified, she’ll be alright—Severus, collect a calming draught from that cabinet, yes, that one,” that he realized he was gasping for breath. He just thought this was what life felt like without Astraea.

Like being choked to death.

Draco was distantly conscious of Potter and Weasley staring at him, of McGonagall bustling them out of the room, but he could not look away from Virgo. He tore away from Madam Pomfrey’s coddling to rush to Virgo’s bed—this wasn’t real, if he could only touch her—

He flinched when he did. Astraea’s skin had always been warm, soft, welcoming. Now, she just felt like stone. Cold. Hard. Lost.

“Here, Draco. Drink.” Professor Snape raised a vial full of sky-blue liquid to Draco’s mouth, but Draco just pushed it away without looking. He could not tear his eyes away from his sister.

Was she in pain? Was she conscious? He hadn’t given any thought to the fate of the other petrified students. They weren’t dead, after all, and they would be revived soon; he had mocked everyone’s dramatics. Now, his stomach revolted. Virgo wasn’t dead, but she wasn’t anything else, either. What was he, without her?

“That wasn’t a request, Mr. Malfoy,” Snape murmured, butting the vial against Draco’s mouth again. “ _Open_.”

Draco grimaced, but opened his mouth, allowing Professor Snape to tip the potion down his throat. Immediately, his breathing slowed, and his perception broadened. He hadn’t realized he’d begun to tear at the sheets on Virgo’s bed. He unclenched his fists from the fabric.

He hadn’t realized he’d been crying either, but his hands came away wet when he wiped his face.

“Draco,” Professor Snape prodded. “I need to escort you back to the common room. Your housemates need to be informed of these events.”

“No,” Draco blurted. “Please, don’t—can’t I stay with her? Don’t make me leave her.”

“Mr. Malfoy, dear, she’s petrified. She can’t hear you or feel you—but she’s not in pain, either,” Madam Pomfrey explained in a soft, caring voice. “Staying won’t do her any good.”

“I know,” Draco quickly retorted, although he hadn’t, actually, known. “Just, please—I can’t leave her yet.” An entirely irrational fear overtook him, whispering that as soon as he left the room, as soon as he looked away from Virgo’s statuesque form, she would disappear entirely.

Madam Pomfrey turned to Professor Snape, who had opened his mouth, likely to demand that Draco come with him now. “You can leave him with me, can’t you? I’ll escort him back in a few hours, after I complete my scans of these three. His only sister, Severus…”

Snape wrinkled his nose but nodded. “Fine. I’ll inform the Headmaster that the boy is under your care. Mr. Malfoy, you are not to leave the infirmary without Madam Pomfrey. Until the culprit is caught, all students are to be escorted everywhere within the castle, and a six-o’clock curfew is to be instated.”

Draco nodded glumly. Yesterday, he would have complained about needing a baby-sitter at Hogwarts, since everyone knew that Slytherin’s heir would only attack mudbloods and blood-traitors, but now he just wondered why Hogwarts was allowed to remain open at all. His own father’s machinations, undoubtedly. He pushed down the surge of fury that threatened to take him over.

Snape narrowed his eyes, and Draco vaguely wondered if his Head of House was surprised that Draco hadn’t argued with the new restrictions to his freedom. Soon enough, though, Snape turned with a dramatic whirl of his robe and left the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to have stretched the truth with Snape. Her scans of Virgo, Granger, and the Ravenclaw prefect only took a few minutes, while Pomfrey chattered nervously about petrification. Draco did not respond, and soon enough, Pomfrey left him alone with Virgo and the other victims.

The time passed as if Draco were in a trance, as he gazed at his sister. It was strange to see her so still. Astraea had never been twitchy, necessarily, but now Draco realized that she never truly stopped moving. Her eyes were constantly taking in the world around her, or her lips were mouthing words as she read, or her fingers were pulling at her braid as she contemplated. The body on the bed didn’t truly seem like her, without movement. And yet he still couldn’t look away.

Virgo didn’t realize how much time Draco spent watching her. He had spent so many years stealing moments, looking at her. She had always been so enchanting. Other people were beautiful, too, sure, but no one captivated Draco as much as Astraea did.

He had looked for excuses to touch her long before that morning almost two years ago, when she had come into his room asking about virgins and penises. Sometimes he wondered if they would have ended up in the same place, even without Virgo’s inquisitive mind. He suspected that no matter what, as soon as he learned what sex was, he would’ve wanted to do it with Astraea.

As much as she argued otherwise, he wasn’t sure that it was the same for Virgo. She adored him, he knew, but he thought that she would have enjoyed learning about her body and sex with anyone. It wasn’t about him. It was about knowledge.

His mouth quirked bittersweetly as he thought about how disappointed his sister would be when she was revived and found out she had missed out on classes. His sister, the swot.

Perhaps his father would hire a new tutor for her, this summer, to make up for the lost time. He certainly owed her that.

“Draco?”

Draco whirled around. Madam Pomfrey had spoken. Draco had clearly been lost in his thoughts, as he hadn’t noticed her coming out of her office. She was accompanied by a new visitor.

“Mother?”

Narcissa Malfoy looked more frazzled than Draco had ever seen her. Her hair had been haphazardly swept up into a knot on her head, but several strands were falling around her face. Her robes were wrinkled and covered with soot from Madame Pomfrey’s floo. And most significant of all, her usual expression of detached control was gone, replaced by a grimace of crazed grief.

“Darling,” his mother whispered, coming forward to meet him at Virgo’s bedside. Draco collapsed into her embrace. He was surprised to find that he could no longer tuck his head comfortably underneath her chin; he must be only a few inches shorter than her, now. Narcissa, uncharacteristically, seemed to want to extend the hug longer than normal, squeezing Draco tight, but Draco had other intentions.

“Father’s not—I don’t want—you’re alone?” he asked, looking around frantically. The anger that had been building for the last several hours threatened to bubble out of him. He didn’t think he could stand to see his father right now.

Narcissa’s jaw clenched, as she knelt next to Virgo’s bedside. Draco noticed that her hands shook as she stroked her fingers over Virgo’s face. “I’m alone. Your father is…otherwise occupied right now.”

The tone of Narcissa’s voice left no room for follow-up questions, although Draco ached to ask. While he was considering how much he could press her, Madame Pomfrey had crept closer. “Shall I leave you two alone, Narcissa, or do you have any questions for me?”

Narcissa shook herself and stood, although her eyes still flickered back to Virgo’s body as she spoke. “No, thank you, Poppy. I’ll have Healer Fortrain contact you, about visiting.”

Madame Pomfrey nodded graciously. “It’s good to see you, Narcissa. Will you be needing my floo to return?”

Narcissa shook her head. She had turned back to the bed, focused on her daughter, even as she replied. “No, I’d like to escort Draco back to his common room. I’ll apparate from Hogsmeade. Thank you, Poppy.”

The nurse nodded again, and then returned to her office.

“Healer Fortrain?” Draco prodded once the door had closed behind her.

Narcissa nodded, sighing. “I got your father to agree to ask Healer Fortrain to come provide a second opinion, in case there’s anything else we can do… I had wanted to request that a petrification expert visit from St. Mungo’s, but…”

She trailed off, her jaw clenched. Draco mirrored her expression.

“But Father doesn’t want the victims to be revived earlier than he planned,” he guessed.

Narcissa’s eyes flicked to Draco’s. Growing up, Draco had heard stories of his friends playing their parents against each other, but Draco had never had the chance. His mother and father always seemed to be on the same page, a partnership and alliance that could not break.

Now, Draco was acutely aware that cracks were showing. If he wanted to get information from his mother, this was his chance.

“Yes,” Narcissa confirmed, and then looked around the hospital wing. Despite that Madame Pomfrey was in her office, behind a closed door, and all the occupants of the beds were petrified, Narcissa seemed uncomfortable speaking plainly. “I should escort you back to your common room.”

Draco made a sound of protest. “But—Virgo—”

“There’s nothing we can do for her,” Narcissa declared, although her eyes struggled to break away from Virgo’s petrified form as well. “And she’s safer, now.”

Draco considered stomping his foot, throwing himself onto the bed and refusing to part from Astraea, but he knew that it would be useless. Narcissa wouldn’t hesitate to stun him if forced. Still, he took one last look at Virgo before following his mother from the wing.

They walked in silence through the empty halls for several minutes before either of them spoke. “Where is Father, really?” Draco asked at last, once they had entered the dungeon corridor, and there were no more portraits to listen in on their conversation.

Narcissa’s jaw tightened. “On the floor of his study, under a Full-Body Bind Curse,” she admitted. “I told him that he would be spending the majority of the time that Virgo is petrified in the same fashion as her. Give him some time to think about his priorities… endangering our children.” She had mumbled the last sentence under her breath, but Draco had heard it, nonetheless.

Draco’s eyes widened. “Madame Pomfrey said that Virgo wasn’t conscious, that she would wake up and not know any time had passed.”

Narcissa startled, turning back to Draco. She placed one delicate hand on his back. “Yes, darling. Virgo isn’t aware of anything right now. The Body-Bind Curse is different than true petrification; your father is conscious, just uncapable of moving. And I won’t truly keep your father under it for the entire time… I was simply angry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you.”

“No!” Draco yelled, pulling away so that her hand fell from his back. He had always craved his mother’s touch, as it was so rare, but now he was afraid that if he gave in, he would drown in his sadness. “Not telling us things got us into this mess—Virgo and I had to figure out for ourselves that Father was involved. Did you know that Virgo spent several weeks in the fall following Theo Nott around, wondering if he was the heir? And all that time, she was in danger of being attacked…”

“Your father told me that you two were safe, that the monster wouldn’t attack purebloods,” Narcissa pleaded. She had stepped forward as if to touch him again, but Draco pulled back further. “He thought it was superfluous, asking Virgo not to associate with mudbloods, but clearly, her association with that Granger girl almost got her killed…”

“Don’t blame Virgo for this!” Draco roared. “She doesn’t _associate_ with Granger—she must’ve just been in the wrong place at the wrong time—”

“I’m not blaming Virgo,” Narcissa argued brokenly. “But your father is still convinced that she would’ve never been attacked if Granger weren’t there. The Dark Lord wouldn’t want—”

“The Dark Lord?” Draco interrupted. “What’s he got to do with this?”

Narcissa flinched, but she recovered quickly. “Well, your father will be pleased that he successfully disrupted Virgo’s genealogy research,” she muttered darkly. “The Dark Lord is the last of Slytherin’s line, darling. He’s the heir.”

“But he’s dead. Isn’t he?”

Narcissa looked up and down the hall again, to confirm that they were still alone. “We don’t know if he’s dead, but yes, he’s gone, he’s not here. Before he fell, years ago, the Dark Lord gave Lucius a cursed diary, that would possess the owner, and make them complete the Dark Lord’s mission. Lucius gave it to the Weasley girl.”

“ _Ginny Weasley_?” Draco hissed. “ _She’s_ the one who is attacking people? She’s Virgo’s age!”

Narcissa cringed. “Well, she’s not the attacker, she’s just setting Slytherin’s monster on the victims—”

“There really is a monster? I thought it was just—just a metaphor, or something.”

An expression of acute pain came over Narcissa’s face. “Yes,” she admitted. “Slytherin’s monster is a basilisk.”

Draco reared back. “There’s—there’s a basilisk in the castle?”

“It only comes out when the heir calls for it—it lives in the Chamber, underneath the castle—”

“Let me rephrase,” Draco interrupted, furious. “Father planned to release a basilisk into the castle where his children live?”

“He didn’t think that you were in danger,” Narcissa pleaded. “He thought the Dark Lord had better control over the monster. Clearly, he miscalculated—I’m furious with him, I am, but you must know he would never purposefully endanger you or Virgo—”

“Just accidentally,” Draco snarked. “So, now what’s his plan, now that he knows we are in danger? Is he shutting it down? Is Hogwarts closing?”

Narcissa paled, and for the first time in their conversation, she looked properly guilty, instead of just pained. “Your father and I agree that it would do nothing to shut down the operation now. Virgo is safe—the basilisk does not have access to the hospital wing. And now that you know, you will be safe, as long as you keep your eyes on the ground anytime you’re in the second-floor corridor.”

A lump grew in Draco’s throat. He had gotten this far by holding on to the fury at his parents, but suddenly, sadness and betrayal threatened to take over. He had never questioned whether his parents cared about him and his safety, but now he wondered if he and Virgo would always come second to family status. Tears prickled at his eyes. He turned away, so that his mother could not see.

“Draco—”

“ _Leave_ , Mother. You’ve done enough,” he spat, and ran away from her towards the Slytherin common room.

It took Draco several minutes to collect himself, outside the common room. At first, he was afraid that his mother would follow him, and he would be forced to either give in to the sobbing that threatened to take over his body, or wield his anger like a shield, and scream at her for treating Virgo’s attack as anything less than an earth-shattering event. Luckily, she did not follow him, and he was able to dry the tears that had snuck out of his eyes and return his breathing to normal before he entered the common room.

The common room was more packed than he had ever seen it. It seemed that every single Slytherin was present, gossiping about the latest attack. Still, when Draco entered, the room quieted, turning to stare at him.

Draco had often wished to have the attention of his entire house, but now, having received it, he only wished for them to forget that he existed.

“Draco!”

Pansy had stood from where she had been sitting in a circle with the rest of their year and was closing the distance between them with a sympathetic look on her face. Draco allowed her to wrap him into a hug with distant annoyance.

“I’m _so_ sorry,” she announced. Draco felt that she was speaking much too loudly. “We all simply can’t believe it.” As she spoke, Greg, Vince, and Daphne had also risen from their seats and had come to join the conversation. Meanwhile, the entire house remained suspiciously quiet.

“Is it really true, Draco?” Greg asked. “Virgo—she’s…”

Draco found that he couldn’t speak, so he just nodded. Vince and Greg were both pale, and the former cracked his knuckles absent-mindedly, although his expression was more afraid than Draco had ever seen it. A surge of affection for his two closest friends ran through Draco, as they, more than anyone else he could see, had a deadness in their eyes, as they recalibrated to life without Virgo.

“You must be _so_ angry at that mudblood Granger,” Pansy prattled on, rubbing Draco’s arm. Draco shifted pointedly away from her, but she continued. “We’ve all been talking—Virgo must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Slytherin’s monster must have been going for Granger. They should just send all the mudbloods home, so we can go to school peacefully, without this curfew business.”

Draco scowled. He wished he could be angry at Granger. That would be simple. The reality was so much more complicated.

“Granger didn’t attack my sister,” he grumbled.

Pansy looked uncertain. “Well, no, but if it weren’t for her—”

“Leave it, Pansy,” Vince demanded. Like so many other times, Vince and Greg had shifted in front of Draco, as if to protect him. He had never felt so grateful.

Pansy seemed honestly confused. “I’m just—”

“Come on, Draco,” Greg prodded, pushing Draco away from Pansy even as he continued to stare her down. “You haven’t eaten, have you? Go on, I’ll bring some food down to you in the dorm in a minute. Snape says we’ll eat meals down here for today, until they figure out the new system…”

Greg trailed off as Draco took his chance and escaped down the hall to their empty dorm room.

* * *

The next several days passed in a haze. Draco woke up Sunday morning to the news that the groundskeeper, Hagrid, had been tossed into Azkaban under suspicion of involvement in the attacks, and that Dumbledore was suspended as Headmaster. His classmates seemed to think that Draco would find some type of satisfaction in this news, but Draco only felt a kind of grim understanding. Even Crabbe and Goyle were confused by his reaction.

“Your father must be even more furious with Dumbledore than usual,” Greg had murmured Sunday afternoon. “Getting Virgo attacked…Well, good riddance to Dumbledore, I say. Hey, maybe Snape will apply to be headmaster, now, huh?”

An unexpected surge of anger came over Draco, and he had to resist bellowing at Greg—for what, exactly, he couldn’t say, but the anger was there, nonetheless. He couldn’t seem to decide what to feel, lately, or what he wanted his friends to do. He was angry when his housemates mentioned Virgo, like they had the right to miss her like he did, and then he was angry when they didn’t talk about her, like anything else mattered. He was angry when Greg and Vince were silent, unsure of what to say around him, and he was angry when they left him to his brooding and continued on as if he weren't there.

Sunday night, he lay in bed thinking that if Virgo were here, she would understand what he was feeling. She always understood, even before he did. This thought led to another fit of sobbing, that he hoped his dormmates couldn’t hear.

But by the end of the week, when Vince had shaken Draco awake from nightmares of Virgo dying for the third night in a row, Draco thought that the stoicism ship had sailed. By the second week, all the boys were looking ragged, and Draco knew that his nightmares were waking them all up in the middle of the night.

The boys’ combined sleep-deprivation resulted in an uptick in the number of disagreements between them. Draco chose not to notice that he was the one who initiated the majority of the arguments. The smallest things had started to cheese him off, so that one afternoon two weeks after Virgo was petrified, he yelled at Greg for mixing up syrup of arnica and syrup of hellebore in his Potions essay, after Draco had specifically tutored him on hellebore the previous afternoon.

“Lay off, Draco,” Vince growled, as Greg seemed to curl in on himself in the next armchair.

“What?” Draco deflected. “Why should I even bother helping you idiots with classes if you won’t even listen?”

“Oi!” Theo interjected, with uncharacteristic venom, as Vince reddened. “That’s out of line, mate. We know you miss Virgo, but—”

“Don’t talk about her,” Draco hissed. A buzzing began to fill his brain, until he felt he was vibrating with conflicting emotions. “Sod this.” He gathered his books and stormed down to the dormitory.

Fifteen minutes later, he was lying on his bed, trying to recall the way that Virgo curled around him in bed and pressed her face to his neck, when the door opened. Blaise stepped inside the dormitory with a flat expression.

“I’ve been nominated to be the one to tell you that you’re a prat,” he declared, leaning against the closed door.

“Sod off,” Draco replied without looking away from his canopy.

The dormitory was silent for several beats, but Draco could feel Blaise looking at him. He was considering the wording of a jeer about Blaise staring at him like he had a bloody crush on him when Blaise spoke again.

“I know you know that the last five of my stepdads have died unexpectedly,” Blaise announced.

Draco turned to look at him. Blaise’s flat expression had been replaced by a slight frown. Draco had also been mistaken; Blaise wasn’t looking at him—he was staring off into space at the wall above Draco’s head. “Yeah, so?”

“So, of all of us, I think I’m the most familiar with dealing with death,” Blaise explained.

Draco gritted his teeth. “Virgo’s not dead,” he declared.

Blaise’s stare snapped back to Draco. “ _I_ know that, but _you_ don’t seem to,” he sneered. “Because if I’ve learned one thing, being around my mum’s husbands, is that _you don’t grieve someone before they’re gone_. You miss Virgo? Fine, we all do—Merlin knows you’re less of a prat when she’s around. But she’s _alive_. Go visit her and remind yourself of that.”

“The hospital wing is closed to visitors, now, for the victims’ safety,” Draco whined. “And it’s not like I can just wander down there, anyway—we’re escorted everywhere, these days.”

It was true—three days after Virgo was petrified, he had given in and asked Snape about visiting her in the hospital wing. Snape had been quite clear that it was against the rules, and that if he found Draco wandering the halls without an escort, he would put him in detention for the rest of his days.

“And there’s _no way_ you could convince Madame Pomfrey to let you in to the hospital wing,” Blaise jeered sarcastically. “You’re a _Slytherin_ , mate. Act like one.”

Draco did not respond, and Blaise left the way he had come. Draco apologized to Vince and Greg later that night, and the boys did not speak about that afternoon’s fight again.

The next day, after last period Charms, Professor Flitwick was readying to escort the Slytherins back down to the dungeons, when Draco clutched his stomach. “Professor, I’m not feeling so good,” he groaned. “Do you think I could go to the hospital wing, to get a tonic from Madame Pomfrey?”

From the frown on Professor Flitwick’s face, he suspected Draco’s true intention, but he did not say anything other than, “Alright, Mr. Malfoy, we’ll swing by the hospital wing on the way down to the dungeons.”

Draco was worried that Madame Pomfrey would simply hand an anti-nausea tonic to him through the hospital wing door, and then send him away, but he had underestimated her sympathy.

“A stomach-ache, you say? Well, I’ll certainly give him a tonic, but I might as well keep him under observation. Come along, dear.”

Draco resisted immediately running to Virgo’s bedside once the door had closed behind them. She was just as he had left her, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, but even just seeing her form calmed him. He approached the empty bed next to hers, in what he hoped was a casual way, and sat down.

“I must admit, I thought I might see you sooner than this,” Madame Pomfrey declared, as she returned from the medicine cabinet with a small vial of purple potion. “Considering how many other students I’ve had to turn away from visiting their petrified friends.”

Draco pursed his lips and looked pointedly away from Virgo’s bed. “You anticipated me having a stomach-ache?”

Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes, in a way that made her seem much younger than her seventy-plus years of age. “I have sporadic talents of divination,” she declared sardonically, holding the vial out to him.

Unexpectedly, when Draco reached out for it, Madame Pomfrey pulled the vial away.

“You know, taking anti-nausea tonic when you aren’t nauseous can have quite unsavory side-effects. _Incontinence_ ,” she stage-whispered.

Draco glanced at Virgo out of the corner of his eye, quickly weighing his options. “Shouldn’t be a problem for me, then,” he lied, and reached out for the vial again.

Again, she pulled it away before he could close his fingers around it. “For Merlin’s sake, Mr. Malfoy, just admit that you wanted to see your sister, and I’ll let you stay for the afternoon.”

Draco narrowed his eyes at the nurse. Finally, he let his hand drop. “My stomach suddenly feels better,” he grumbled.

Madame Pomfrey smirked victoriously. Fortunately, she didn’t go back on her word. “I’ll keep you for observation until dinner time,” she declared, as she returned to put the vial back in the medicine cabinet.

Draco mysteriously had a stomach-ache every afternoon for the next several weeks.

It didn’t make him _happy_ , exactly, to see Astraea in such a strange, stilted state, but it reminded him that she was alive. Even when he was just doing homework at her bedside, it was nice to be able to think ‘ _I wonder what Astraea would make of this charm_ ,’ and look up to see her eyes, and imagine telling her about it when she woke up.

Being able to spend time with Astraea each afternoon made the nightmares dim slightly, made him able to laugh a little bit more, and begin to look forward to the time when the Mandrake Restorative Draught would be ready, and she would be revived. Unfortunately, once his outlook lightened, he suddenly became aware of how people around him were also mourning Virgo in their own way.

One morning in mid-May, he awoke earlier than normal. An unfortunate corollary of the new escorting system was the new dining schedule; Snape would arrive in the common room at half past eight to escort them all to breakfast, and not a minute earlier. The unlucky early risers had to putter around the common room until then, their stomachs growling.

Draco got out _A History of Magic_. Without Virgo around to provide contextual anecdotes for Binns’ lectures, he was having trouble remembering dates and names. With exams just a few weeks away, he had a lot of extra revision to do.

“Oh look, it’s Crabby Abi,” came a voice across the common room twenty minutes later. Draco glanced up from his notes to find Jebediah Tuft and Ludvik Doholov looming over the armchair where Abilene sat. “How does it feel to realize that the only person who liked hanging with your miserable self is petrified? Mind you, I think Virgo just pitied you.”

Draco scowled when he heard his sister’s name. In the last two months, he had grown accustomed to finding the most random things remind him of Astraea—when the house-elves served carrot cake, when Pucey mentioned up-and-coming Bulgarian chaser, Clara Ivanova, when he overheard a student speaking French in the corridor. It was no surprise that when Jebediah referred directly to his sister, Draco would feel overcome with understanding of how Virgo would respond if she were here.

It was a surprise to feel overcome with desire to do the same.

“Hey, Abilene,” Draco greeted evenly, as he gathered his books from his table and crossed the common room. Tuft and Dolohov both blanched when they saw him, and Draco realized that they hadn’t seen him in the corner of the common room. At least these prats were still afraid of him. “I didn’t see you there. Fancy a game of Gobstones before breakfast?”

Abilene turned her dark eyes on Draco. Her cheeks had reddened slightly in response to Tuft’s jeers, but now her expression was returning to its traditional stony nature.

Draco didn’t mind. He had spent hours in the last month staring at his petrified sister. Abilene’s facial expressions were practically dramatic in comparison.

“Alright,” Abilene declared. “I’ll go get my set.”

Draco dropped his bag on the floor and took the armchair next to Abilene’s. Tuft and Dolohov loitered awkwardly. Draco turned his best glare on them.

“If I find you bullying Abilene again, you’ll find yourself occupying the bed next to my sister’s in the hospital wing.”

Jebediah and Ludvik paled, and slunk away across the common room to sit as far from Draco as they could.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Abilene muttered, once she had properly trounced Draco at Gobstones, and he was wiping Gobsauce off his robes. “Take pity on me, I mean.”

“I don’t pity you,” Draco replied, immediately, and was surprised to find that it was true. “But Virgo will have enough to deal with when she wakes up, without finding out that I let one of her best friends get bullied in her absence.”

Abilene harrumphed, but when Draco looked up from his studying a few minutes later, he found that she still had a small smile on her face.

A couple of days later, Draco was working on a Transfiguration essay on Virgo’s nightstand when a knock sounded at the hospital wing door. Madame Pomfrey bustled out of her office and cracked the door.

“He refuses to let me do the counter-charms,” Draco could hear Professor Flitwick sigh.

“I’d just prefer that Madame Pomfrey check me over! Who knows what other hexes those kids used.”

“Those kids whom you will not identify,” Professor Flitwick deadpanned.

Madame Pomfrey sighed and glanced back at Draco. “Well, come in, come in, Mr. Avery. Filius, no need to wait around, I’ll escort him directly to dinner later.”

The nurse managed to open the double doors without allowing Professor Flitwick to see Draco at Virgo’s bedside. He was sure that the professors were aware of where he spent his afternoons, these days, but it seemed best not to draw attention to his rule-breaking.

But when Caecius Avery entered the hospital wing, Draco forgot his discretion and burst out laughing. “What happened to you?” he asked, still snorting.

Caecius’ face was covered with boils, but that was only the beginning. His head was devoid of hair, but adorned with antlers, and twice the size as normal. The skin on his arms was flaking excessively, his feet were bound together, and to add insult to injury, his fingers had been replaced by leeks.

The nurse did not seem amused. She waved her wand a bit more aggressively than necessary, and one by one, the hexes were reversed. When she was done, she put her hands on her hips.

“ _One afternoon_ , Mr. Avery,” she announced. “I will allow you to visit with Ms. Malfoy this afternoon, but next time you show up, having let your friends use you for hex practice, I will send you back to your common room without the counter-charms.”

Caecius grinned good-naturedly. “Yes ma’am,” he agreed, and Madame Pomfrey walked back to her office, shaking her head. Caecius pulled a chair up opposite Draco eagerly.

Draco did not say anything as Caecius peered down at Virgo’s face. Two months ago, he thought he would have been intolerably jealous, having to share Virgo with him. Now, he just felt something like sympathy. Caecius had bags under his eyes, just like Draco did.

“So, who really hexed you?” Draco asked.

Caecius glanced up at him. “Combined effort. The Pimple Jinx was Jordan, the Hair-Loss was Esmerelda, the antlers were from Aelius, and Luna did the leeks. Oh, and of course Claire showed off with the cornflake skin and skull engorgement hexes.” He shivered.

“I’m surprised you held out until now,” Draco commented. “Trying to get in here to see Virgo, that is. You two haven’t gone more than two days without seeing each other since last year, have you?”

“Guess we’re not as good at breaking school rules as Slytherins,” Caecius taunted, but it was without vitriol. “Can’t imagine how you feel… I know how close you are.”

Draco’s mouth quirked. If Caecius actually knew how close they were, they would be in trouble. “Like a ghost,” he described flatly. “That’s how I feel.”

Caecius snorted. “Yeah, that’s about right,” he agreed.

Draco set his Transfiguration book aside and stretched. “It’s been better, lately, though, being able to see Virgo each afternoon. Even if it’s just… this.”

Caecius nodded, looking down at Virgo, and then behind him at the other petrified victims. “Yeah. It’s a bit creepy, though, seeing them all like this.”

Draco shrugged. “You get used to it,” he muttered. When Caecius looked skeptical, Draco continued. “I asked McGonagall about it,” he admitted. “Petrification. Madame Pomfrey’s been great, but she just likes to talk about how Virgo isn’t in any pain. McGonagall explained more. She compared it to Vanishing an object. A vanished object ceases to be, but if one has memory of the vanished object, you can return it to its previous state. She said Virgo’s body is like the memory, right now. As long as her body is here, her being can return to how she was.”

Caecius looked at Draco, open mouthed. “I guess it makes sense why the Hospital Wing has all this new security, then,” he said, looking down at Virgo in awe. “Keep their bodies safe.”

Draco nodded, but didn’t say anything else. He liked understanding, but if he thought too hard about how Virgo needed her body as an anchor to the physical world, he got a bit sick.

“I didn’t know you were smart,” Caecius admitted. Draco looked up from Virgo’s face with a sneer. “No offense. Obviously, I knew Virgo must put up with you for some reason… I just didn’t know it was because you were smart.”

Draco considered numerous scathing replies, and then he imagined them getting into a fight, and Madam Pomfrey coming out to kick them out early, and never letting him back in to visit with Virgo. “I don’t know why she puts up with me, either,” he admitted at last. “But that must be part of it.”

Caecius snorted. “All right, then,” he declared, and pulled out his homework.

* * *

Draco found out that the Mandrake Restorative Draught was almost ready several days before Professor McGonagall announced it to the school at large. He had been bugging Madame Pomfrey about it sporadically for several weeks, until Madame Pomfrey finally got frustrated with his nagging.

“If we rush the process, and brew it incorrectly, the victims are in danger of getting permanently petrified,” she declared with a huff. Draco promptly grew pale and short of breath, and Madame Pomfrey realized her mistake. It took several long minutes of her assuring him that they would rigorously test the potion before administering it to Virgo before he calmed down, but he still never nagged her about the potion again.

Draco woke up the day that Professor Snape would finish the potion surprisingly nervous. The only comparison he had for it was the memory of returning home for winter break last year, excited to see Virgo and share with her his new knowledge. In this case, he felt like the last two and a half months that she’d been petrified had been a lifetime, and he hardly felt like the same person. All the things they’d argued about previously felt miniscule in comparison to seeing her smile again.

He did not realize just how excited and optimistic he was for her revival until he heard McGonagall’s announcement just before morning break.

“All students return to their House dormitories at once,” McGonagall’s voice rang out. “All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please.”

The walk down from the Astronomy tower to the dungeons was long, but Professor Sinistra bustled them through it. It wasn’t long before they were entering the second-floor corridor.

Draco had kept his eyes on the stone floor every time he had entered the corridor where all the attacks had happened, just as his mother had suggested. This time, though, when Tracey and Daphne screamed ahead of him, he gave in and looked up.

Luckily, there was no sign of the basilisk, but there was a new message on the wall.

_Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Vince declared, as Draco tried to make a break for the Hospital Wing as they descended to the first floor. His friend had grabbed the back of Draco’s robes with a death grip. “I’m not losing you, too.”

“If it’s _her_ —"

“There’s no reason to think it’s Virgo,” Selma Runcorn declared. Draco looked around, realizing that his whole class-year was observing him. “There are two hundred other girls at this school, you know.”

Vince did not let go of Draco’s robes until they were safely in the Slytherin common room. Draco did not relax until Snape entered the common room thirty minutes later, and announced that Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, and that the school would be closing.

There were fewer complaints from Draco’s housemates than he expected. Blood traitor or not, Weasley was the second pureblooded victim. It finally seemed to be getting through to his housemates that no one was safe.

The day passed slowly, while Draco’s classmates mourned the closing of the school. The more pragmatic students began packing up their belongings, while others wondered if the school would ever open again. Draco did not, could not, take part in these conversations. He was the only one who knew that it was truly over, that Ginny Weasley’s death signified the closing of the Chamber, once again.

Was this what his father wanted to achieve? Was this his grand plan?

Lunch and dinner were both delivered to the common room on schedule, but that seemed to be the only indication of the passing of time. After dinner, when the sun had set and there was no more light filtering through the portholes from the lake, Draco wondered if his sister was awake yet. Surely, they wouldn’t put off administering the potion, now? Not when the victims could potentially give information on their attacker.

A knock sounded at the common room entrance. One of the sixth-year prefects pulled the lever to open the wall.

“I’ve come for Draco,” Madame Pomfrey announced. When Draco appeared at the door, she gave him a sad smile. “Would you like to be present when your sister is revived?”

Draco inhaled shakily and nodded.

The Hospital Wing was emptier than he expected when they arrived. Only Professor Snape, Filch, Madame Pomfrey, and himself were there. Draco looked down the line of students and realized that since the majority of the victims were muggleborn, they didn’t have any siblings at the school. They didn’t even have parents who could visit them here.

As if on cue, his mother walked out of Madame Pomfrey’s office, brushing floo powder off her robes.

Narcissa looked as if she wanted to hug her son, but Draco did not move from Virgo’s side. His mother settled on a grim smile, which Draco didn’t return.

“Father?” he asked under his breath.

“At home,” Narcissa answered. “I didn’t want to risk any…conflict.”

Draco was silent for several beats. “Thank you,” he grumbled, at last. His mother nodded.

“We’ll talk about it when we’re all at home, alright?”

Draco scoffed. “We’ll have years to talk about it,” he spat. “They’re closing the school.” He didn’t say ‘ _because of Father_ ,’ but his mother seemed to understand.

“ _Draco_ ,” she chided.

“The potion is ready,” Professor Snape announced from over a large cauldron. He raised his wand, and summoned several small vials, which immediately filled with the draught.

Draco’s heart began to pound, as one by one, the draught was administered to the victims, and one by one, they each blinked awake. First it was Mrs. Norris, reunited with Filch, and then Colin, blushing under the scrutiny, and then Justin Finch-Fletchley, who burst out crying at the realization that he had missed six months of life.

But before Madame Pomfrey could administer the draught to Granger, the door to the hospital wing swung open. Ushered in by her parents and her Head of House was Ginny Weasley.

There were several gasps. Ginny promptly burst into tears, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley ushered her to one of the empty beds, where they pulled the curtains around them. Professor McGonagall came forward to speak in low tones with Madame Pomfrey and Professor Snape. Narcissa and Draco strained to hear as subtly as possible.

“Potter—we’re saved by the boy yet again—killed a _basilisk_.”

“The school, then?”

“Will remain open! Albus wants a feast, of course—I’m off to the kitchens now, I just thought I’d inform you all. A _basilisk!_ ”

Narcissa stood abruptly. Draco looked up at her in shock.

“Your father—he’ll need to know,” she murmured. “I’ll need to inform him.”

“What— _now_?” Draco asked, gesturing at Virgo.

Narcissa glanced at her daughter with a grimace but nodded all the same. “Yes. Give her my love when she wakes.”

“ _Mother!_ ”

“I’m sorry, Draco,” Narcissa muttered, and then sped across the hospital wing to Madame Pomfrey’s office, where she would undoubtedly floo back to the manor. All the occupants of the hospital wing watched her go in confusion.

Madame Pomfrey approached Virgo’s bed carefully. “Are you ready, Draco? Will Narcissa be…”

“No,” he answered coolly. “Just me. I’m ready.”

Madame Pomfrey poured the vial into Virgo’s mouth.

And Astraea blinked awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My tumblr is [luckywatersao3](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Optional survey to provide feedback on this chapter is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo awakes to a changed Hogwarts...and a changed Draco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter this week, but it will answer some of your questions...

### Part Three

Virgo didn’t _wake up_ from being petrified as much as she was _reborn_. Her first few heart-beats were frantic, in which she knew nothing at all, as she looked around this strange new world. She wondered vaguely if this was why newborns cried—so scary was this feeling of being untethered, adrift, overloaded with new stimuli.

But then she spotted Draco, and life stabilized around her.

Madame Pomfrey bustled around them for a minute, checking Virgo’s magic level and scanning her for residual curses or injuries. Virgo took the opportunity to glance around the hospital wing, at the other victims, at the dark sky. At Draco.

Draco looked different. His hair was longer, unkempt, and there were bags under his eyes. Virgo reached out, automatically, to push his hair to the side, and instead of scrunching his nose up as she mussed his hair, he turned into the contact. There were tears in his eyes.

“How long?” Virgo asked, as Madame Pomfrey stepped away, to administer the draught to Penelope.

Draco inhaled shakily. “Two and a half months.” He grasped her hand in his own, holding it against his skin. “I missed you.”

He looked around the room. No one was paying them any attention, anymore. Madame Pomfrey was focused on reviving Granger, and Professor Snape was dully answering Justin Finch-Fletchley’s questions, while Colin listened in.

When Draco turned back to Virgo, he pulled her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers delicately. His eyes bore into hers.

“I missed you so much, Astraea,” he whispered.

Virgo felt herself blush. She was suddenly out of breath. “I missed _you_ ,” she whispered back, and she knew both of them knew she was referring to more than the last two and a half months.

Draco smiled weakly back at her. Tears still threatened to pour out of his eyes. He moved their clasped hands away from his mouth, but he didn’t let go.

Virgo felt a bit like she was in a dream. Draco often smiled at her, often had love in his eyes—adoration, affection—but the way he was looking at her was so much rawer than it had been in a long time. She wondered what exactly had occurred in the time she was petrified.

“What happened?” she asked, looking around the hospital wing. “Has the basilisk attacked anyone else?”

Draco gaped at her. “You know it was a basilisk?”

Virgo nodded, quizzical. “Yes. Gra—Hermione figured it out. She warned Penelope and me—we had been about to walk down the stairs into the second-floor corridor. But since Hermione told us, we knew to check if the coast was clear with a mirror. Lucky we did, otherwise we’d be dead for sure.”

Draco didn’t respond, because at that moment, the hospital wing doors opened once more, revealing Ron Weasley and Professor Lockhart. Lockhart was looking around the room in open fascination.

“Hermione!” Ron cried, running forward to his best friend’s bed. He flung his arms around her in a hug. After a moment, though, both Gryffindors flinched back from the contact, blushing.

Professor Lockhart, on the other hand, was wandering around the room, looking more guileless than Virgo had ever seen him. Madame Pomfrey approached him with confusion.

“Gilderoy?”

Lockhart did not respond, and instead just smiled dumbly at her. Then, he seemed to shake himself. “Oh, yes, that’s me, isn’t it? Do I know you?”

Weasley rushed to explain to Pomfrey something about a broken wand and a Memory Charm. Draco and Virgo exchanged bewildered glances, and Virgo was glad to see that this, at least, was a new development. She felt unbearably out of touch, having missed three months’ worth of events.

When Madame Pomfrey had led Lockhart to one of the last open beds, and Weasley had returned to Hermione’s bedside, speaking with her and Penelope in quiet tones, Virgo turned back to Draco.

“So, has the basilisk been dealt with? It must’ve, for you to know about it.”

Draco cringed and shifted awkwardly. “Apparently, Potter killed it. A lot has happened—Ginny Weasley was taken down into the Chamber of Secrets earlier today—presumed dead. The school was going to close and everything, but supposedly Potter and Weasley conducted some sort of rescue mission, and Potter managed to kill the basilisk and bring Ginny back. So now the school can stay open.”

Virgo snorted, giving her brother a fond look. “You must hate that—Potter getting even more attention and notoriety.”

Surprisingly, Draco frowned. “Not exactly,” he sighed. “I’ll never tell _him_ it, of course, but he saved the school from having to shut down…and he closed the Chamber for good… Makes you thank Merlin for self-sacrificing Gryffindors.”

Virgo furrowed her brow. “You’re _thankful_. For Potter,” she repeated incredulously.

Draco made a face and glanced over to make sure the Gryffindors still weren’t listening. “I mean, he’s still a bloody prat, but… yeah, I suppose so.”

Virgo needed this development explained at once. “What aren’t you telling me, Draco?”

Draco bit his lip as he met her stare. He looked around the room one last time, and then pulled her other hand into his, squeezing gently. “The day you were petrified—Snape came and got me from the match, brought me here. You and I knew that Father was behind this all, somehow, but we didn’t know how. But then Mother visited, to check on you, you know, and she explained.”

Draco inhaled shakily and squeezed Virgo’s hands again. She squeezed back.

“Father _knew_ about the basilisk, Astraea. The Dark Lord is the last of Slytherin’s line—he’s the heir. Before You-Know-Who fell, he gave Father a cursed diary, that would possess the owner and force them to open the Chamber of Secrets and set the basilisk on muggleborns. Father slipped it to Ginny Weasley, back in Flourish & Blotts.”

Virgo gaped. “ _Ginny Weasley_ opened the Chamber of Secrets?”

Draco nodded, but he didn’t respond right away, as Madame Pomfrey had crossed the room from Lockhart’s bed to inform the students that the feast was about to begin and that all of them were free to go. Virgo and Draco hastily let go of each other’s hands. All of the previously petrified students looked a bit hesitant to simply walk out of the wing after so much lost time, but Penelope was the first to rise and head out the door, and Colin Creevey followed her soon after.

Draco turned back to Virgo. “Apparently, Father thought it was strategic to give the diary to Weasley—you can see the logic—if anyone had found her with it, the Weasleys would be disgraced, and Mr. Weasley’s Muggle Protection Act would’ve fallen to the wayside. And if she wasn’t found out, well… then the Chamber of Secrets would be opened, and Father would’ve done the Dark Lord’s bidding once again.”

Virgo gave Draco a dubious expression. “Father must have had some other motive, to risk our safety. What did Father say when he visited? Did you ask him?”

Draco scoffed. “He _hasn’t_ visited, Virgo. I mean, thank Salazar he didn’t, or I would have hexed him into the next decade. He almost got you _killed_.”

Virgo swallowed. She wasn’t delusional—she knew how close she had been to walking down those stairs, to looking the basilisk straight in the eye. But her father couldn’t have known.

“I just—I don’t understand,” she murmured. “I would’ve thought the Dark Lord would only want to attack muggleborns and blood traitors. But that basilisk—Draco, I only glimpsed it, but it was _huge_ , and just waiting in the corridor. There was nowhere it could’ve hidden, if Penelope and I had walked down there alone. We would have looked right at it.”

Draco sneered. “Yeah,” he agreed. “You should have heard Mother, trying to justify Father’s actions—she said that Father thought we would be safe, that it would only ever attack muggleborns, and that he didn’t even think his warning to you—you know, to stay away from any muggleborns—was necessary. But he was wrong.”

Virgo gulped. “But he _did_ try to warn me.”

Draco scoffed derisively. “What, by telling you not to associate with mudbloods?” he hissed. Virgo looked around, to make sure no one had heard the slur, but Weasley and Hermione must have gone off to the feast while she and Draco were talking. Only Finch-Fletchley remained, talking quietly with Madame Pomfrey. “We both wrote that off as his—his prejudice. It’s not like he told us what was really happening. If he had told us that he had set a basilisk on muggleborns, and that we would die if we were caught in its gaze, well, that would be different, wouldn’t it?”

A lump was forming in Virgo’s throat. She _knew_ her father wouldn’t risk her safety if he had really known, but it was true, she hadn’t given much credence to her father’s warnings. “And Mother? She knew?”

Draco’s expression was still stormy. “Yeah. I mean, she was furious with him—well, she said she was—when you were attacked. She said that he had convinced her that we would be safe, that the basilisk would never attack us. But she still defended him, after he was proven wrong. She blamed the basilisk’s attack on Granger’s presence. And even after you were attacked, she and Father didn’t do anything—they were going to let the school get closed, just to follow Father’s stupid plan to the end. And then—”

Draco broke off, grimacing. He looked away, and Virgo realized that her brother was close to tears. He took a shaky breath, and then turned back to her.

“Mother was _here_ , Virgo. Just a little while ago. She was going to be here when you were revived. And then McGonagall came in with the news that the basilisk had been killed, that Ginny had been saved, that Dumbledore was back, and Mother just—just ran out of here, to tell Father. She cared more about his stupid plots than being here for you.”

Virgo swallowed and pushed down the hurt that followed her brother’s words. She didn’t know why she would expect anything different of her mother. All her life, when she had been sick, or injured, her mother never had been the one to stay at her bedside. Gilly was the one who tended to her—Healer Fortrain if it was really serious—and Draco was the one to hold her hand. Her mother was just informed of her prognosis.

She didn’t even know what she would have done, if she had opened her eyes to find both Draco and Narcissa waiting for her. Draco wouldn’t have been able to hold her hand, or kiss her fingers, or call her Astraea, in their mother’s presence. And he wouldn’t have been able to tell her what had really happened.

It hurt, how much Draco and her were left on their own, but Virgo had grown accustomed to it, all the same.

“How are you two doing?”

Virgo and Draco looked up. Madame Pomfrey approached Virgo’s bed, with a motherly expression on her face.

“You heard me say that you could leave, didn’t you? Don’t you want to see your friends?”

Virgo suddenly thought of Caecius, who must be sick with worry, and of Abilene and Claire, who must feel guilty for letting her leave the library the day she was petrified. She thought of Esmerelda, who found each successive attack even more frightening, and must have been scared out of her mind the last few months, of Vince and Greg, who must’ve been shocked with the news, of Cho, who would’ve hated Quidditch practices without any other girls.

“You’ll be alright, won’t you dear?” Madame Pomfrey continued, but surprisingly, she was speaking to Draco, not Virgo. The older woman was rubbing Draco’s back comfortingly. “Now that your sister’s back, you’ll be able to get some sleep?”

Draco blushed slightly and glanced at Virgo. “She’s—she’s really okay?” he asked Madame Pomfrey. “There won’t be any side effects, of being petrified for so long?”

Madame Pomfrey shook her head. “That’s what the magical scan was for. Her magic is at a perfectly healthy level, and well… you would know already, if the restoration hadn’t worked.”

Virgo observed her brother curiously. It was clear that a lot had changed with him, since she’d been petrified. She’d never seen him admit such vulnerability or accept comfort from someone, other than herself, like he was doing with Madame Pomfrey.

“Well, what do you say?” Draco asked Virgo as he turned back to her. “Are you ready for the feast?”

Virgo sighed, looking around the hospital wing. She might have appreciated an excuse to wait until tomorrow to return to her friends and her dorm, but now that the rest of the students had gone to the feast, she didn’t feel she really had the choice.

She was being silly, anyway. Just because she didn’t know what to expect didn’t mean it would be bad. She just wasn’t used to being out of the loop.

“Come on then,” Draco prodded, after Virgo had nodded. Draco helped her out of bed carefully, brushing off her robe needlessly, and then he stooped to tie her shoes. While his fussing was completely unnecessary, Virgo wasn’t going to reject his aid, especially when he led her out the door with a hand on the small of her back.

They got halfway down the first-floor corridor before Draco stopped and pulled her to a halt. She had felt his eyes on her all the way down the hallway, but every time she had looked at him, he hadn’t taken the opportunity to say anything. He still didn’t say anything now, but his eyes seemed full of meaning.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Virgo returned the hug tentatively, surprised by the open affection. Draco sighed against her neck and walked them forward until Virgo was trapped against the wall by his body.

“You’re not allowed to scare me like that ever again, Astraea,” he whispered against her neck. Virgo tightened her arms around him, raising one hand to coast through his hair and hold his face to her neck.

“Not like I did it on purpose,” she muttered, even as she rejoiced in the contact.

“Still,” he mumbled, nuzzling his nose underneath her ear. Virgo tried to listen to his words, but she was a bit distracted by the sensation. Her eyes had closed involuntarily. “Never thought about what I would do if you were gone… and I can’t bear it.”

“I’m never leaving you,” she promised.

Draco snorted, and raised his head. Virgo let him go unwillingly. “You can’t promise that,” he replied, but he was smiling affectionately.

“Sure, I can,” Virgo replied lightly.

Draco rolled his eyes and stepped back from her. Virgo took a moment to push herself off from the wall. When they moved to continue down the hallway towards the marble staircase, Draco wrapped one arm around her shoulders. “Well, I’m not going to take you for granted any longer,” he declared. “You’ll see.”

“You’re being dramatic, Draco,” Virgo said, even as she leaned into his side. “You didn’t take me for granted.”

“Well, I certainly never thought about what my life would be like without you,” Draco explained. “And now that I’ve seen it… well, I’m going to do everything I can to keep you around.”

“I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”

Draco squeezed her closer in response. They walked the rest of the way to the marble staircase in silence, and then started down the stairs.

“You can say no, but… would it be okay if I sat with you at Ravenclaw? I know your friends will want to see you, but I’m not quite ready to say goodbye yet,” Draco rambled as they descended the stairs.

Virgo looked at him quizzically. Draco had never eaten an entire meal at the Ravenclaw table. She had never gotten the impression that he liked any of her friends. “Sure,” she replied.

Therefore, when they pushed open the doors to the Great Hall, they did not split up. They did pause, glancing down the Ravenclaw table to look for Virgo’s friends. As they did, the entire Great Hall turned to look at them.

“Virgo!” cried several voices, and then there was a wave of students rising from the tables to come greet her. Virgo blushed, as Vince, Greg, Abilene, and even Daphne rushed from the Slytherin table to hug her hello, and then Caecius, Claire, Esmerelda, Cho, and Marietta followed to do the same. When the line of her friends waiting for a hug had finished, and Draco had informed Greg and Vince that he’d be sitting with Virgo at Ravenclaw, they started down the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables.

Most of the first-years were already taking the seats they’d vacated, halfway down the table, although Caecius had convinced Aelius and the second-year boys to move down to make space for Virgo and Draco. Virgo moved to take one of the seats, but then she noticed that Draco wasn’t following. She suddenly wondered if he had had second-thoughts about sitting with her friends. She really wanted to sit at the Ravenclaw table, but she supposed she would sit with him at Slytherin if he wanted.

But he was not looking at her friends with distaste, or at the Slytherin table with envy. Instead, he was gazing down the Gryffindor table.

“Draco?” Virgo prodded.

He turned to look at her. “I’ll be there in a second, I just need to do something first.”

And then he set off determinedly down the aisle and only stopped when he was close to the front, right next to where Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger were sitting with the rest of their year.

Virgo rushed after him. It was quite unlike Draco to pick a fight right in front of the professors, in the middle of the Great Hall, but he’d been acting quite unlike himself ever since she’d been revived.

“Granger,” Draco greeted, as Virgo skidded to a stop next to him. Potter and Weasley were both eyeing Draco suspiciously from the other side of the table, but Granger was facing away, and therefore hadn’t seen him approach. She now turned to look at him.

“What, Malfoy?” she asked. Virgo didn’t think she was imagining the fact that most of the nearby students had turned to watch the confrontation.

Draco raised his chin slightly. “Virgo told me what happened, the day you all were petrified,” he explained. “You saved her life.”

Hermione’s skin darkened as she blushed. “ _Oh_. Well, I—I would’ve done it for anyone.”

Draco gave a quick jerk of his head that Virgo thought was supposed to be a nod. “Even so,” he countered, and then stuck out his hand. “I will forever be in your debt.”

Hermione stared at his outstretched hand with wide eyes for a moment, before she seemed to jerk into action, and clasped his hand in hers. Draco shook her hand once, solidly, and then let go. The entire of the Gryffindor table seemed to be staring at him in shock, but Potter and Weasley looked especially staggered.

“Close your mouth, Weasley,” Draco snarked after he had dropped Hermione’s hand. “You’ll catch flies. Come on, Virgo, you should eat.” And then he turned on his heel and guided Virgo back down the aisle towards their seats.

“Who _are_ you?” Virgo asked incredulously, as they sat down. There were whispers buzzing through the Great Hall, and Virgo estimated that the entire school would’ve heard about Draco’s conversation with Hermione by the end of the meal. “If you hadn’t just snarked at Weasley, I would think you were under Polyjuice.”

“Don’t be mean, Virgo,” Caecius chided, unexpectedly. “You don’t know what it’s been like, without you around—we’re all grateful to anyone who saved your life. And, speaking of, how exactly did Granger save your life?”

Virgo explained about Hermione figuring out that Slytherin’s monster was a basilisk, which led to a spirited discussion of basilisk traits, which led to several of her classmates wondering how Potter was able to kill a basilisk single-handedly. It was around this time that Dumbledore announced to the school the news that Potter and Weasley were responsible for killing Slytherin’s monster. The reactions to this bit of news were a bit mixed, as some students took the news that the threat had been found and vanquished as uplifting, while others were just terrified that one of the deadliest magical beasts in the world had been residing in the castle the entire time the school had existed.

When her friends had tired of speculating about what truly had happened in the Chamber of Secrets that day, Virgo demanded to be informed about all the events of the past two and a half months. She found out that she hadn’t missed any Quidditch practices at all, since the season had been suspended, and that everyone’s freedom had been severely restricted, as students had been required to have an escort at all times. She wondered how Ginny Weasley had managed to break away to go down to the Chamber without being discovered, but she did not voice this, as she and Draco had kept the news that Weasley was the agent of the attacks a secret.

She was just demanding that her friends begin listing the topics that they had covered in classes while she was petrified when Professor McGonagall stood. The interim headmistress was back in her normal chair to the righthand side of Dumbledore, who was presiding over the festivities as if he had never been suspended as headmaster.

“This year has been trying for all of us,” Professor McGonagall announced in a serious voice. “Despite that the school is officially safe for all of us yet again, I think we all feel the weight of this year’s stress. For this reason, the staff has decided to cancel all end of year exams as a school treat.”

The Great Hall immediately burst into applause and excited chatter, although the Ravenclaw table was a bit less euphoric. (“Sod all,” Claire cursed. “I was _so_ ready to beat Roger’s scores.” “Never mind that,” Anthony commented. “How will we know what topics we need to review further, without an exam?”)

“Well, at least you won’t need to spend the next few days cramming for your exams,” Draco murmured to Virgo. He had spent most of the last hour quiet, simply following the Ravenclaws’ conversation. Every time Virgo glanced at him, she expected him to be bored out of his mind or pouting at the fact that he wasn’t the center of attention, but instead he was always gazing at her with a contented smile on his face.

“I’ll still want to review everything I missed,” Virgo declared. “I hope the professors will help me catch up.”

“We’ll all help you,” Esmerelda promised, and Virgo’s other classmates agreed.

The feast continued for hours. Even when everyone had eaten to their heart’s content, all the students seemed unwilling to abandon the celebration. Students began to swap seats, visit friends at the other houses, or play games across the tables. It seemed that everyone had missed a spot of normalcy during the lockdown. Still, by the time four o’clock in the morning approached, the crowd began to dwindle, as students returned to their dorms for the first stress-free sleep in months.

“How aren’t you tired?” Liam asked Virgo. His head was propped up on an elbow on the table. “You’ve been petrified for months—shouldn’t you need to recuperate?”

“Madame Pomfrey said this would happen,” Draco commented. “She was petrified just past eleven in the morning and has been in stasis until she was revived at eight o’clock tonight. Kind of like when you get portkey lag from jumping time zones—Virgo must feel like it’s just past dinner time right now.”

“Well, thank Rowena you have the weekend to get back on schedule, Virgo,” Aelius declared.

When Draco was only staying upright because he was leaning on Virgo, and Luna was snoring into her arms on the table, they all decided to call it a night. The group rose and ambled out into the Entrance Hall. The Ravenclaws moved to climb the marble staircase, but dawdled near the bottom, waiting for Virgo to say goodbye to Draco.

Virgo faced her brother at the entrance to the dungeons. Draco was carefully watching her friends over her shoulder, seemingly checking that they weren’t in hearing distance. “You promise that you won’t get attacked on the way back to Ravenclaw tower?” Draco asked, finally meeting her eyes. Virgo thought that he was aiming for a joking tone, but instead it came out as a whine.

“The biggest threat to me now is getting stuck in one of the trick steps,” Virgo joked.

Draco smiled half-heartedly. “If I thought we could get away with it, I would ask you to sleep in my bed tonight,” he murmured. “But we can’t risk it.”

“You would want me to?” Virgo prodded.

Draco snorted and looked down at his hands. “You must think I’m such a pansy, worrying about you like this,” he muttered.

“I don’t think that,” Virgo argued. “I just—the way we left things, before I was petrified—but now you’re calling me Astraea again, and I’m just checking…”

Draco raised his head again, his eyes tracing her face. “Yeah, I want you in my bed,” Draco breathed. “Not just because I’m terrified that you’ll get hurt or attacked again, but because…I’ve always wanted you there.”

Virgo smiled, and then it grew and grew until she was grinning at her brother and trying not to cry with exhilaration. When Draco returned her smile, it was her turn to blush and look down at her feet.

“So… summer?” she asked. “When we get home, we’ll have privacy again.”

Draco’s grey eyes seemed to be glittering with affection. “Yeah, this summer,” he confirmed. “I told you, I’m not taking you for granted anymore. I want to make you feel good.”

Virgo licked her lips unintentionally, and Draco’s eyes drifted down to watch. “Okay,” she whispered. “Summer.”

“Okay,” Draco echoed. They didn’t break eye contact for several moments, until Draco glanced behind her, at her friends. “You should go… they’re getting restless.”

Virgo glanced back. True to his words, some of her classmates had drifted up the stairs, and Claire was sitting on one of the marble steps, seemingly too exhausted to stand any longer. She sighed. Now that Draco had gotten the idea in her head, there was nothing that she wanted more in that moment than to return to Slytherin with him, to crawl into his bed next to him, whether just to lie with him as he fell asleep, or to… make each other feel good again.

Still, she forced herself to turn the other way. “Goodnight, Draco,” she murmured.

Draco grinned. “It’s morning, now,” he corrected, and then his smirk softened. “Sleep well, Astraea.”

As she climbed the stairs up to Ravenclaw tower, Virgo knew that she would be dreaming of her brother tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/).
> 
> ALSO. I'm trying to compile recommendations of songs that remind people of this story/Draco and Virgo. The playlist as it currently stands is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Cc5p0U8XxeNsnAYsMcCNK), but I would love for you all to suggest anything else that you think fits!
> 
> Chapter feedback survey: [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9)


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo spends the last two weeks before leaving Hogwarts adjusting to what she's missed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a letter in this chapter-- reminder that you can turn off custom formatting with the "Hide Creator's Style" button.

It took much longer than the weekend for Virgo to adjust back to a normal schedule. She had only managed to get to sleep Saturday morning around half past six, and therefore had awoken in mid-afternoon to find most of the day gone. Although her friends had also slept away most of the day, when ten o’clock at night rolled around, they still yawned and went to bed, while Virgo was left to putter around the common room alone for seven more hours before she felt tired enough to go to sleep.

When she finally awoke Sunday at half past one in the afternoon, she found Caecius waiting for her in the common room. Someone had opened the windows of the tower, so that the parchments that he was bending over on the table rustled slightly in the breeze.

“There you are,” Caecius commented when he saw Virgo. “I was just thinking of going down to lunch to save you a plate of food—wasn’t sure if you would sleep through it again. Everyone else is outside, enjoying the nice weather.”

“Why are you inside, then?” Virgo asked. “Homework?”

“No,” Caecius laughed. “All the professors thought we’d be busy with exams, this week, didn’t they? So no one has any homework. I just figured I’d wait for you. Didn’t want you to wake up to an empty tower.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” Virgo commented. “Anyway, what’s this, if not homework?”

“Astronomy study guide,” Caecius explained, as he piled up the parchments and books and slipped them into his bag. “For you. I’d been procrastinating on it a bit—everyone else has gotten their subjects’ done, but I had a hard time concentrating while you were… well, you know. Come on, let’s go down to the Great Hall—I’m starving.”

“What are you talking about?” Virgo asked, as she followed him out of the common room. It was still a bit disorienting to step out of the tower and find the rest of the castle warm with sunlight. Before she had been petrified, she had still been wearing her winter cloak everywhere.

“Study guides for you, obviously,” Caecius explained. “You missed two months’ worth of classes—I know Flitwick collected all your assignments for you, and I’m sure most of the professors will be open to providing you tutoring, but still. We split up the subjects: Claire took Potions—she wanted to do the study guides for all the subjects, but she’s been stressed enough the last few months without the extra work—Aelius took Transfiguration, Esmerelda took Defense—not that we actually covered much content with Lockhart teaching—Liam took Herbology, Luna took Charms, and that left me with Astronomy.”

“What about History of Magic?” Virgo prodded.

Caecius scoffed. “Like you listen to anything Binns says, anyway. We know you’d just want to read the textbook yourself.”

Virgo laughed. She couldn’t deny that. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“We wanted to,” Caecius declared. “Anyway… it gave us all something to focus on.” He sighed and glanced significantly at her. “It’s been really strange, not having you around. Everyone’s noticed it, but… well, I’ve missed you a lot. It’s like I didn’t even know how to act around everyone, without you there. I didn’t hang out with the girls as much, I hardly saw Abilene, what with the escort system, and only Liam seemed to understand how much it scared me, having you petrified.”

Virgo didn’t know exactly what to say to that, as she knew her friend wouldn’t accept her apologies for an event that she had no control over. Instead she just bumped her shoulder gently into Caecius, who bumped back with a small smile.

“Anyway, the study guides were a bit of normalcy,” Caecius sighed. “It’s strange that the year’s almost over now—just two weeks until we board the train back. I think we’d all rather stay for a bit longer, get used to Hogwarts without Slytherin’s monster prowling the hallways.”

Virgo hummed vaguely. She couldn’t say she agreed. She still felt a bit lost in this new world. She found herself wanting to comfort her friends, when they showed the effects of the stress of the last few months, but she didn’t think she would ever understand what they had gone through while she was petrified. She would be sad to say goodbye to her friends for the summer, certainly, but she didn’t understand the desperate need to recover a bit of normalcy at Hogwarts.

Instead, she was desperately looking forward to summer break, when she and Draco would finally have privacy again.

There weren’t many people in the Great Hall at this late hour, but Virgo was happy to see that Abilene was sitting at the end of the Slytherin table with a book open in front of her. Virgo had gone down to the Slytherin common room yesterday afternoon for a few hours to sit with Draco and his friends, but Abilene had been conspicuously absent.

“Come on,” Virgo said, pulling Caecius away from the Ravenclaw table. “Can we sit with Abilene?”

Virgo was surprised to find that Caecius didn’t answer in an affirmative, and instead only trudged along behind her as they made their way down the center aisle.

“Hello, Abilene,” Virgo greeted as she and Caecius took seats across from their Slytherin friend. Abilene glanced up in surprise.

“Oh… hello,” Abilene murmured. Virgo frowned. Abilene had always been diffident, of course, but it had been ages since she had seemed so unsure of herself around Virgo.

“What are you reading?” Virgo asked, as she began serving herself lunch, determined to ignore the awkwardness. She didn’t miss the way that Caecius wasn’t meeting Abilene’s eyes, or the way that Abilene kept glancing at Caecius with a hurt expression on her face.

Abilene bit her lip and flipped the cover up so that Virgo could see it.

“ _101 Wizarding Chess Tactics for the Everyday Witch or Wizard_? You’re plenty good at chess already—you beat me every time! Anyway, I thought you preferred Gobstones.”

Abilene looked down at her plate, breaking her remaining biscuit in two needlessly. “Your brother prefers chess to Gobstones,” she explained. “And he keeps beating me.”

“Draco?” Virgo asked, as if she had another brother. “You’ve been playing chess against Draco.”

Abilene nodded. “Well, yes,” she confirmed, and then she glanced up at Caecius again, although this time she didn’t look away. “He noticed that I was lonely, without you around, Virgo, and since none of my _supposed_ friends in Ravenclaw were speaking to me—”

“—the school was locked down!” Caecius interrupted in his own defense, although his cheeks were red. “We couldn’t go to the library, or hang out with you after class, or—”

“What about meals?” Abilene demanded. “I spent three months sitting five feet away from you at this table, and you didn’t even _look_ at me. You didn’t come say hi, or invite me to sit with you, or ask me how I was _doing_ —”

Abilene’s voice broke on this word, and Virgo had the urge to reach across the table and hold her hand, but she didn’t think that Abilene—strong, collected Abilene—would appreciate it.

“Well, neither did you!” Caecius declared. “You could have come sit with us, or said something, but instead you just kept your nose in a book every meal—”

“I’ve _always_ read during meals,” Abilene argued. “It never used to stop Virgo from coming to say hello! And why would I risk being rejected in the middle of the Great Hall—”

“Well, I’m not Virgo, and Virgo wasn’t around!” Caecius responded. “You think it’s easy for one of us to just walk up to the Slytherin table, and ask to sit down? Your house is tetchy on a normal day, but after Virgo was attacked, you all just closed ranks—”

“Stop it, both of you!” Virgo interrupted. Caecius and Abilene both quieted, but they still were glaring at each other, with hurt reflected in both of their eyes. “It’s clear you both missed each other—this all could have been solved by just _one_ of you reaching out and admitting it.”

Neither of her friends responded, as they now were both avoiding each other’s eyes.

“I just don’t think I need’ve been the one to say anything,” Abilene declared after a moment. “It’s obvious I don’t have many friends—of course I missed Caecius and Claire and you…”

“Well, why do I need to be the one to say it?” Caecius demanded. “I’ve only ever hung out with you with Virgo around, maybe you just tolerated me—”

“Maybe I did!” Abilene hissed, and Virgo had officially had enough.

“Bollocks,” she declared, which seemed to surprise both of her friends. “Never hung out just the two of you? Well, there’s no time like the present, yeah? You better be sorted by the time I see you both at dinner.” Virgo grabbed a biscuit and strode from the Great Hall.

She was planning on heading down to the dungeons, to see if Draco was in the Slytherin common room, but several Hufflepuffs were coming into the Entrance Hall from the grounds when she passed, and she quickly rerouted when she saw the sun flooding in through the open door. Lucky that she did, too, as when she began walking across the grounds, looking for her friends, she spotted a familiar head of platinum blond hair sitting by the lake with some other students.

“You won’t believe what I just witnessed,” she announced, as she plopped down next to Draco and his friends. Blaise was at the water’s edge, trying to show Vince and Greg how to skip rocks, while Pansy and Tracey looked on. Theo and Selma were both reading, and Daphne appeared to be half asleep as she sunbathed, but Draco gave Virgo his full attention.

“What’s that?” he asked, smiling unreservedly at her, as he brushed her hair out of her face. “I don’t have the temperament for any more drama this year.”

Virgo snorted, as she lay back on the grass, propping her head up on Draco’s leg. She was happy to find that Draco didn’t seem uncomfortable with this, and instead just began running his hand through her hair idly. “You’re full of crap,” she teased. “You love drama.”

“Shut up,” Draco replied without vitriol. “Now what happened?”

Virgo explained about Caecius and Abilene’s fight. As she was doing so, she remembered Abilene’s comment that started the whole episode.

“And what’s this Abilene said about you two playing wizarding chess together?”

Draco snorted, and stopped his ministrations to look down at Virgo incredulously. “What, you jealous?” he murmured humorously. “You must know that I play other people—you’ve never been much competition for me.”

“Shut up,” Virgo grumbled. She didn’t think she was _that_ bad. She turned her head away from Draco, to look out to the group. Greg waved jovially at her, and even Pansy and Tracey smiled at her. None of Draco’s classmates seemed to find it weird that she had her head in his lap.

“If you must know,” Draco said, drawing Virgo’s attention back to him, “Tuft and Dolohov noticed that none of your friends were speaking to Abilene anymore, and were taking the piss more than usual. So… when I saw her around, I sometimes invited her to play a game. Get them off her back, you know. Good for Abilene for laying into Caecius about it. He has plenty of friends in his own house, she doesn’t. He has all the power.”

Virgo furrowed her brow. “But why should he have been the one to reach out?” she asked. She didn’t want to take sides—she thought they were both to blame for being insecure cowards, but a defensiveness grew inside her. “Abilene should know by now that Caecius sees her as a friend—he’s been plenty friendly all year. And Abilene, well, I love her, but sometimes it’s hard to know where you stand with her.”

“Yeah, but Caecius, he’s friendly to everyone—he even tried to be friendly to me, when I was doing my best to get on his last nerve, last summer,” Draco replied. “How’s Abilene to know she’s at all special?”

Virgo huffed and was about to lecture him about how friendship wasn’t a competition, when something he’d said caught up to her. “What do you mean, Tuft and Dolohov were taking the piss ‘more than usual?’”

Draco began playing with her hair again, now that they weren’t disagreeing anymore. “You know—Jebediah and Ludvik—they like to make fun of Abilene. I mean, you can see why—she’s a bit odd, isn’t she? But now I can see what you like about her—she’s smart, and she’s quite funny, in her own way.”

Virgo frowned. “I had no idea that anyone was bullying Abilene.”

Draco smiled fondly down at her. “You can’t know everything, Astraea,” he murmured to her, causing her to blush slightly. “Anyway, Abilene can take care of herself. I bet you anything that Caecius apologizes for being a prat by the end of the day.”

* * *

Draco was right. When Virgo returned to the common room several hours later, Abilene was sitting, head held high, in one of the armchairs, as she chatted with Caecius, Claire, and Aelius. Judging from the appeasing looks that Caecius kept sending the Slytherin, their lunchtime conversation had left him feeling properly guilty. Claire, similarly, was noticeably quiet.

When they went down to dinner, Caecius declared to the group, in a voice that demanded no argument, that they were to sit with Abilene at the Slytherin table.

Despite Virgo’s tablehopping, her head of house still came down to discuss her return to classes.

“Madame Pomfrey has ordered all of us professors to give all the petrification victims leeway this week,” Professor Flitwick explained to Virgo. “Apart from returning your body to a more natural circadian rhythm, she estimates that you might also find yourself easily overwhelmed.”

Virgo did not have an answer for this, but listened gratefully as Flitwick informed her that there would be no punishment for missing morning classes as she adjusted to the time difference, and that Madam Pince would be leaving the library unlocked until midnight instead of eight o’clock, to allow the petrified students a place to study on their own schedule.

She should not have been surprised when she walked into the library at half past seven that night, to find Hermione Granger as the only student present. She knew that with Hogwarts’ exams cancelled, most students’ last priority was studying. Virgo wavered as she rounded the corner of the Potions section to find Hermione at the table that they both so routinely coveted.

But the Gryffindor saw her before Virgo could decide what action to take. “Hi,” Hermione greeted, as she looked up from her work with an unguarded expression.

“Hi,” Virgo replied. She bit her lip. “Er—do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all!” Hermione declared eagerly, and shifted her books towards herself needlessly, as the table was quite large enough for the two of them. “I thought I’d be the only person swotty enough to still be in the library, now that exams are cancelled.”

Virgo smiled tentatively. “We missed two and a half months,” she commented. “There’s a lot to catch up on. I don’t want to get behind.”

“That’s how I feel!” Hermione replied. “But Harry and Ron won’t stop teasing me, and you should see the other Gryffindors—a bunch of them lit their notes on fire.”

“They did _not_ ,” Virgo gasped. “Do they think the content will never come up again?”

“They just don’t care,” Hermione explained. “I had wanted to copy notes from one of them, but they’re all useless—of course, all the professors have been supremely helpful, but I don’t want to miss anything—especially in the lead up to next year, when I’ll be starting new subjects. I was really hoping to have a solid grasp on all the core subjects before then, but—”

Hermione suddenly trailed off, as her cheeks darkened. The Gryffindor seemed to have only just realized she was babbling.

“Which of the electives are you taking?” Virgo asked, as she pulled out her Potions book. Professor Snape had made clear that he would not pardon her from the semester’s work just because she was petrified at the time, and therefore she had quite a lot of work to do. “Draco’s taking Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy—I had told him that Ancient Runes would be more interesting that Magical Creatures, but he told me that Kettleburn’s class is known as an easy O.”

Hermione looked disgruntled—either that any of their professors were known to commonly give out the top grade, or that anyone would pick classes based on the likelihood of getting a good mark. “Oh. Well, Care of Magical Creatures should be interesting—and useful, as we’ve seen already!”

Virgo raised her eyebrow. “Considering you were able to figure out that Slytherin’s monster was a basilisk _without_ the class, I’m not sure how necessary taking the class will be.”

Hermione hummed. “Well, I suppose I’ll see next year,” she commented idly. She had turned back to her Transfiguration textbook, and seemed to have forgotten Virgo’s original question, distracted by her studying. Virgo, unoffended, opened her Potions book, and got started on catching up.

They worked in silence for several hours. The empty library allowed Virgo to completely lose herself in her studying. Therefore, she was quite surprised when someone pulled back the chair next to her and sat down, and even more so when a satchel was heaved onto the table.

“Granger,” Draco greeted dully, even as he turned his attention to Virgo.

“Malfoy,” Hermione echoed.

“What are you doing here?” Virgo asked her brother. “Aren’t you worried about getting caught out after curfew?”

“No,” Draco replied. “Gemma told me that the prefects were instructed not to punish anyone for being out past curfew—Dumbledore reckons we all deserve a little break. Anyway, I know you didn’t pack any food from dinner, and you’ll probably be up until four again, so…”

He opened the satchel and pulled out dish after dish of delicious smelling food. Virgo gaped at him. Draco was loyal and protective and would do nearly anything for her if asked, but he was rarely _thoughtful_. He didn’t usually anticipate her needs like this. It confused her nearly as much as it pleased her.

“Where is all this from?”

“Kitchens,” Draco answered. “I got Gemma to tell me where they were, too. Don’t tell Vince or Greg—I’m not sure I want to share the secret with them, yet. In any case, I’m knackered, I better get to bed. Don’t stay up too late, alright?”

He kissed her on the head, nodded once more at Hermione, and then stalked off. Virgo watched him go with her mouth open, and then turned back to the Gryffindor, who looked similarly stunned.

“Well,” Virgo murmured. “You hungry?”

* * *

Draco continued to surprise Virgo the rest of the term. After that first night studying with Hermione in the library, it became a routine for the two girls. Draco seemed surprisingly unperturbed by this development. A few days after he had delivered dinner to her, Virgo was sitting with Draco in the Slytherin common room, her toes pressed into his leg on the couch, when he brought it up.

“So, Granger,” he said blandly. “Are you friends now?”

Virgo peered at her brother. He was waiting for her answer with solemn attention. “Yes, I think so.”

It was true—somehow, she and Hermione had awoken from being petrified with a mutual understanding. Their friendship was simple—it was mostly founded on an appreciation for revision, which Virgo found familiar and Hermione found unique, surrounded as she was by Gryffindors, but it also was without pretension. Virgo was comfortable around Hermione; unlike many people in her life, Hermione seemed compelled to be trusting. The Gryffindor never brought up Virgo’s family or their politics and seemed to trust that Virgo was genuine with her friendship.

“Alright,” Draco said, and that was that. Virgo smiled, bemused. She fancied that she knew her brother better than anyone else in the world, but he continued to surprise her. Even when Virgo began to babble about Hermione’s frustration with the other Gryffindors and their abysmal or absent notes, and her jealousy over Virgo’s friends’ study guides, Draco listened attentively and refrained from insults.

Moreover, the next day, Virgo was just setting up in the library after last period let out, when Draco appeared next to her. Her brother had started to look a bit healthier in the last few days, but Virgo noticed that the dark circles under his eyes had returned.

“Here,” he murmured, after digging out a stack of parchment from his bag. “For Granger.”

Virgo flipped curiously through the parchment. “These are your class notes.”

Draco shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, not just mine,” he explained. “I paid Selma for access to some of her notes, and spent the night adding them to mine.”

Virgo looked up at her brother. “You didn’t need to do this,” she murmured.

He gave a wry smile. “It’s all the right—this stuff won’t come up again until O.W.L.s and Granger would’ve caught up on it by then anyway. And—”

He sighed, and cupped Virgo’s cheek with his hand.

“If you want to be friends with Granger, then I want that for you. I’m trying to be better, Virgo. For you. And I don’t want Granger to hold who I am against you.”

Virgo swallowed down the automatic reply that threatened to shout that ‘who he was’ was amazing and thoughtful and intelligent and clever and loyal, but it was beside the point, because Hermione didn’t know all that. Only Virgo did.

“Thank you, Draco,” she said instead, and he smiled, kissed her on the head, and left.

Hermione was overjoyed at the stack of notes, but she was curious. “This is your brother’s handwriting,” she identified. “Does he know you are giving them to me?”

Virgo snorted. “Yes.” She knew Draco probably would want her to explain that it was his idea, to get the full effect of his gesture, but Virgo found herself wanting to hold onto his thoughtfulness like a secret.

Soon enough, the end of term arrived, and the school was abuzz with activity as all the students packed up their trunks, cleaned their dorms, and said their goodbyes. The last night, Claire had tearfully requested that Virgo keep in touch over summer, as if she hadn’t already planned on it, and even Hermione had asked if it would be okay for them to keep in contact.

Virgo spent the train ride back to Kings Cross Station attempting to keep her attention on her friends, rather than the looming reunion with her parents. Unbeknownst to Draco, Virgo had received a letter from their father the night after she was revived.

_29 th May, 1993_

_Virgo,_

_I am under no delusions that by the time you receive this letter, your brother will have told you everything that he has ascertained from your mother, in regard to the events of this year. I can only hope that you afford me the understanding to explain my actions in person._

_I hope you know that I care about our family above all else, and I would never purposefully act in a way that I thought endangered my family. Any action that unintentionally does so is my deepest regret._

_Your mother and I look forward to seeing you,_

_Your Father_

Virgo hadn’t replied. Her father had built a career on charming people in power, in twisting himself out of sticky situations without blame, and she knew that he could write a letter of apology in his sleep. Still, she didn’t doubt any of his words. She just didn’t know if they made a difference.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a knock on the compartment door. Liam leapt up to slide it open. Virgo was surprised to find Greg waiting on the other side, alone.

“Virgo, do you have a mo’?” he asked. Virgo nodded and followed him out into the train corridor.

Greg leaned against the side of the train a few feet away as Virgo slid the compartment door shut behind her. At this time in the journey, there were very few people out and about.

“I’ll need to be quick; I told Draco and the others that I was headed to the loo,” Greg explained briskly. “Just—you need to know.”

“What is it?” Virgo asked, brow furrowed.

“It’s Draco,” Greg explained. “He’s—he’s not alright. We thought it would be over, after you were revived, but I can tell it’s not. He’s not sleeping, Virgo. We’re all still getting woken up every night from his nightmares—of you dying, or being attacked again, I’d reckon. And during the day, sometimes, we’ll be hanging out and he’ll suddenly get this look in his eye, and it’s like he can’t calm down. He usually gets up, goes to find you, and I’d bet he’s scared you’ve gotten attacked again. I just—he’s not alright, okay? He wouldn’t want me to worry you, but I thought you should know.”

Virgo frowned. Her brother had come to find her over the last weeks more often than usual, but she had attributed that to his plethora of free time, as a result of the end of term. He had been acting differently, of course, but she didn’t realize how deeply his anxiety ran.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said at last.

Greg nodded. “Sure,” he rumbled. “Take care of yourself, this summer, alright? Not that I think Draco will let you out of his sight, but—you don’t need any more accidents.”

Virgo rolled her eyes. “I can take care of myself,” she mumbled.

Greg grinned. “Sure, you can,” he appeased. “I’ll see you, Virgo.” And then he left the way he’d come.

When she returned to the compartment, her friends tried to press her on the content of the conversation, but luckily, they abandoned the effort after Virgo did not answer. The train pulled into Kings Cross two hours later, and it took a bit of clever maneuvering to get all of them and their trunks out of the compartment and onto the platform, but at last, all of the second years made it onto the brick with their belongings. The platform was chaos around them, as all the students swarmed to find their respective guardians.

“There’s my sister—see you next year!” Esmerelda called, and ran off to meet a tall, striking girl with an afro and eyebrow piercing, waving goodbye as she went.

“Oh no, my dad made a sign,” Aelius groaned. The rest of the group laughed as they spotted the words floating in midair halfway down the platform that proclaimed _Aelius Gambol, come give your parents a kiss! We’ve missed our baby!_ Aelius slapped Caecius on the back in that strange way that boys did and strode towards the sign.

“I better find my parents,” Claire sighed, and turned to give one last hug to Caecius, Abilene, and Virgo.

“Will I see you before the fall?” Abilene asked Virgo after Claire had walked off into the crowd.

“I don’t know,” Virgo answered honestly. “I’ll try to convince my parents.” She didn’t know if she could translate her recent close-call into a bargaining chip to get the Rookwoods invited to the manor, but she thought Draco might be able to strategize for her.

“Yours or mine for the first Quidditch game of the summer?” Caecius asked, after Abilene left them alone. They began walking down the platform, scanning the crowd for their parents.

“You’d come back to the manor?” Virgo asked. “I thought your mother wouldn’t allow it, after last time.”

“Eh, Draco and I have come to an understanding,” Caecius said vaguely, as he spotted his parents and waved at them. “What do you think, a couple days to get sick of our parents, and then back to it?”

“Sounds about right,” Virgo laughed. “I’ll owl you.”

They hugged and parted, and Virgo continued down the platform to where her parents and Draco were waiting.

The other three Malfoys looked unbearably stiff as they waited for Virgo to join them. She could tell that Narcissa and Lucius were trying to look unaffected by the way Draco held himself away from them with a cold sneer, but Narcissa’s mouth was pursed into a frown. When they spotted Virgo, all three of them lightened.

“Darling,” Narcissa greeted, striding forward with her arms outstretched. Virgo submitted to the hug easily enough. It had been ten months since she’d seen her mother, after all.

“Virgo,” Lucius sighed with uncharacteristic emotion when Narcissa had released Virgo. Lucius stepped forward, slowly, as if not to spook her.

Virgo did not move. She did not smile, but she did not look away.

“My daughter,” Lucius murmured, as if to himself, and then pressed his palms in on Virgo’s cheeks, and bent to kiss the top of Virgo’s head.

“Can we go?” Draco asked. His jaw was clenched as he glared at his father. Lucius’ face twitched, as if to scold him, but Narcissa replied first.

“Yes, dear,” she capitulated, and then took hold of his arm, while Lucius took hold of Virgo’s, and they apparated away.

It was strange to return home, after so many months away. Virgo had forgotten how quiet the Manor was, after Hogwarts. When the family disapparated into the foyer, it was clear that the portraits all were at attention, but still, they spoke to each other in whispers, rather than the loud, jovial tones that Hogwarts’ portraits did.

“Virgo, I think you and I are due for a conversation,” Lucius announced as he dropped her arm.

“She’s been on a train all day; you’re really going to make her do this now?” Draco scoffed.

“ _Draco_ ,” Narcissa scolded. “Your father was speaking to your sister, not you. We’re not making you _endure_ our presence; we’re both familiar with your opinions of us right now. You can go to your room—you can even have Gilly deliver dinner to you there, if you’d like to hide away tonight.”

Draco huffed, but before he could respond, Virgo spoke.

“Go, Draco,” she muttered. Although her brother’s face twisted in response, Draco complied, and he stomped up the stairs with his trunk in tow.

Virgo followed her father to his study. She had always associated his study with being punished for something. She didn’t think there was any world in which she could be punished for the events of this year, but the association still made her anxious.

“Sit down, Virgo,” her father ordered, as he took a seat at his desk. Virgo sat down. “You didn’t respond to my letter.”

“No. You wanted to explain in person,” she reminded him.

Lucius frowned minutely. “Yes,” he answered. “Well, then, I suppose I should ask you what your brother has told you.”

Virgo narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s high time for honesty, Father? Not just confirming what Draco’s already told me?”

For a moment, Virgo thought Lucius was going to scold her for her attitude, but he didn’t. “I only sought to save time from repeating information, of course, Virgo.”

“I have plenty of time, Father. You wanted to explain; this is your chance.”

Lucius frowned. He did not speak for a moment, and instead he rose from his desk, to begin pacing in front of the bookcases. Virgo had to turn to keep him in her view.

“Several years before he fell from power, the Dark Lord gave me one of his belongings, to keep safe. It was a diary—it didn’t look like much, but he swore that it was of utmost importance. At the time, I think he intended it as a mark of my own importance to him—that he would give me one of his possessions to hold onto.

“As the war continued, it seemed that he began to grow paranoid. The diary became more of a cage than a reward for me. The Dark Lord repeatedly checked that it was still safe, that I hadn’t misplaced it, or damaged it. Then, only months before he fell, he came to call about it again. He explained that he had cursed the diary, and that if Dumbledore and his pathetic Order ever bested him, he would need me to use the diary as a weapon to attack Hogwarts.”

“Did he explain how the diary could be used to attack Hogwarts?” Virgo asked.

“I thought he did,” Lucius answered. “He said that the diary was cursed to possess anyone who wrote in it and would prompt them to open the Chamber of Secrets and release Slytherin’s Monster. He admitted that the monster was a basilisk. There had been rumors, for years—Slytherin was a Parselmouth and the basilisk is the deadliest snake in the wizarding world. But no one had known for sure.”

“But now you did,” Virgo said pointedly.

Lucius spun to look at her. “Any beast is only as dangerous as its keeper,” he lectured. “Slytherin could control the basilisk—the Dark Lord implied that he could as well. There would be no reason to set the basilisk on anyone but mudbloods.”

“What’s the reason?”

“What?”

“What reason is there to set a basilisk on muggleborns?” Virgo asked, voice chilly.

Lucius returned to his desk, but he did not sit down. He pressed his palms down on the surface and loomed towards her. “To put them in their place,” he answered. “To send them back where they came from, and if not, to put them in the ground.”

Virgo pressed back against the cushion of her chair in revulsion. “And you think that’s so reasonable that you thought it was worth it to risk your children’s safety—”

“I already said, I didn’t think you were at risk!” Lucius yelled. “Why would I ever risk my heirs—”

“But you were alright risking their friends,” Virgo snarked.

“I thought I raised you better than to befriend any mudbloods.”

“Well, a mudblood saved my life when you set a basilisk on the school, so I think I’m choosing my friends just fine, don’t you?”

Lucius clenched his jaw. “However _grateful_ I am that you were not killed by that beast, I do not think one good action outweighs centuries of deplorable behavior. That Granger girl is still a mudblood, even if she is a smart one.”

Virgo scoffed and stood. She didn’t know how to argue with this idiocy.

“Virgo, we are not finished!” Lucius called.

Virgo was going to stomp out without another word, but then she had a thought. “You know, there’s one thing I don’t understand,” she declared, whirling back to him. “Why didn’t you just wait until we were out of school? Or why didn’t you plant the diary on one of the Weasley sons, or another blood traitor, anytime in the past ten years? Why now, when we were there to witness it?”

For a moment, it seemed that Lucius wasn’t going to answer, or he was going to force Virgo to beg, or to take a seat again, but then he sighed. “The events of last year with that Potter boy and Quirrell. Dumbledore reported to the Governors that the Dark Lord was possessing Quirrell, and that when Quirrell died, the Dark Lord fled, incorporeal. If that is true, and I fear it is, as Dumbledore has never been a fan of outright lies, then the Dark Lord is not dead at all. It means that the Dark Lord is trying to return, and mark my words, he will succeed.”

“So, what? You wanted to give him a welcome-back gift?”

Lucius scoffed. “You’re so young. A gift—no, I wanted to save our family’s lives. If the Dark Lord came back, and I hadn’t followed one of his last orders, if I hadn’t tried to take down Dumbledore? We’d all be dead. So, yes, Virgo, I’m sorry you were attacked, and I’m sorry that you find my politics so _ghastly_. But I’m not sorry I tried to protect this family in the only way I know how.”

Virgo did not know what to say, so she just turned and left the room.

* * *

Draco was laying on her bed when she returned, playing with the practice Snitch that she had gotten him for Christmas. Virgo closed the door behind her with a little more force than necessary, and he sat up to look at her.

“Well, from that face I’d say the conversation didn’t go like Father planned,” Draco snarked. “Although it is surprising, as this is the first time you’ve seemed properly angry over what he did.”

Virgo groaned and kicked off her shoes with a little more force than necessary. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she grumbled, climbing onto the bed. Draco did not seem surprised when she crawled towards him and faceplanted into his neck, forcing him back onto the duvet.

“Ever?” he asked. One of his hands began rubbing her upper back.

“Not ever,” she grumbled, enjoying the embrace. They were finally alone. “Just tonight.”

Draco sighed deeply. “Okay,” he replied. They lay in silence for several minutes before he spoke again. “Do you think that we could spend all summer avoiding Mother and Father, taking meals up here? I’m glad to be home but…”

“Doubt it,” Virgo murmured, turning to press her face more firmly against his collarbone. “And if we did, they might come looking for us, walk in on us. Better to show face once in a while.”

Draco hummed, and pulled her closer. “So, you still want…” He cleared his throat.

Virgo raised her head abruptly. “Don’t you?”

Draco snorted, raising himself up onto his elbows. “Yeah, obviously. I’m just checking. I don’t want to force you. Whatever you like.”

Virgo straightened. “I still want it.”

Draco’s eyes coasted down Virgo’s body. “So, if I asked you to take off your robe…”

Virgo accidentally kicked Draco’s foot, she moved so fast to kick off her socks. Draco snorted, but the sound caught in his throat when she pulled off her robe in one fluid motion.

“When did you start wearing a bra?” Draco asked, staring open-mouthed at her half-naked body.

“Mother bought me some last year, while you were at school,” Virgo admitted. She took it off and watched Draco’s eyes focus in on her nipples. “Almost every girl at school wears them.”

“Does every girl at school not wear knickers?” Draco joked, glanced pointedly between Virgo’s legs.

Virgo blushed. “You asked me not to,” she mumbled. “I got used to it.”

Draco groaned. “Merlin, Astraea,” he breathed. “Come here, I need to touch you.”

Virgo crawled forward to straddle Draco’s body, as he hiked himself up to lean against the headboard. As soon as she was in touching distance, Draco cupped her breasts in his hands.

“These have grown since I last saw them. I mean, I could see that they had, even with your robe on, but…”

Draco brushed his thumb over one of her nipples, and Virgo arched into the touch. When he saw her reaction, Draco smirked, and did it again.

“That feel good? I don’t remember you doing that before.”

“I barely had boobs before,” Virgo replied. “Yes, that feels good.”

Draco continued to brush his fingers against her nipple, but he was frustratingly gentle about it, so eventually Virgo grabbed his hand and forced his fingers to pinch around it.

“ _Unh_ ,” she groaned, releasing his hand as he continued the pressure. “Yeah, like that.”

“Salazar, that’s hot.” Draco continued to pinch at her nipple for a moment longer, but then he released it. Virgo was going to yell at him for teasing again, but he had lowered his mouth to her chest to suck the abused nipple in between his lips.

Virgo groaned and tangled her fingers in Draco’s hair in order to shove his face more firmly against her chest. She could feel him smile at the action, which interrupted the suction, but his tongue still wound around the erect peak tantalizingly.

Virgo had been so distracted by the sensations, that she hadn’t noticed where Draco’s hands had gone when he had released her breasts. She startled when his right hand cupped the mound between her legs, as one of his fingers found her hole. Draco’s mouth popped off her nipple.

“You’re _wet_ ,” he gasped. “I mean—I knew, the other blokes talked about girls getting wet, but I didn’t realize—”

Draco had started running his finger over the skin between her legs, and in doing so had unintentionally bumped her clit several times. Virgo whined.

“Yeah, I’m wet,” she confirmed briskly. “Draco, you’re teasing, put them in me.”

The smirk Draco gave her was wicked—until he actually put one of his fingers in her, and a look of awe replaced it. “Merlin, that goes in easy now—shit, I forgot how this felt…”

“Merlin, more, Draco,” Virgo groaned. She began rocking her hips up and down, so that his finger began to slide in and out of her. “Can you put a second one in?”

Draco complied, his mouth slightly ajar as he watched her ride his fingers. “Shit, you’re _so_ wet,” he repeated.

“Yeah, well, this is bloody hot,” she argued, eyes closed as she tried to chase her orgasm. His two fingers together were slightly thicker than the handle of her hairbrush, but she was used to thrusting her hairbrush as fast as she could, and she couldn’t lift herself up and down so fast. “Can we—can we change position?”

“Whatever you want, Astraea,” Draco murmured. He watched with hooded eyes as she lifted off his fingers and lay down on the bed next to him. Unexpectedly, he raised his fingers to his mouth, and sucked on them.

“How’s it taste?” Virgo asked. She had tasted her own slick once before, out of curiosity, and she didn’t mind it, but maybe Draco would.

“Not bad,” Draco commented, as he rolled over to hover above her. “I’m fine to taste it from the source.”

Virgo let out a sound that was half groan, half laugh. “Later,” she promised. “Can you… can you thrust your fingers in and out of me?”

“Can I ever…” Draco got up onto his knees and shuffled in between her legs. Rather than immediately pushing his fingers into her, though, he grabbed her knees and pulled her legs apart, until she was displayed for him. “Merlin, that’s hot. You’re practically dripping.”

“ _Draco_.”

“ _Alright_ ,” he replied, and then pushed his fingers into her again. Unlike before, he began to thrust them in and out. “This fast enough?”

“ _Mhmm_ ,” Virgo answered. “But— _unh_ —you can get deeper than that, harder—”

“Yeah?” Draco had obviously been holding back, because he began driving his fingers into her much harder now, until his knuckles were punching into her folds with every thrust.

“Just—like—that—”

Virgo’s eyes were clamped shut now, as she let the sensations take her over. This was much different than just another session with her hairbrush—this was Draco, and he was the one giving this to her—

She groaned again as Draco clamped his mouth onto one of her nipples again. His rhythm with his fingers skipped, but Virgo could still feel her orgasm approaching. She pushed a hand in between them to rub at her clit, and as soon as she did, she could feel it begin to crash over her.

Draco startled as she screamed, but Virgo managed to hold his face to her nipple even through the throes of her orgasm. His thrusts began to slow down much too soon, but still the pleasure crashed over her body again and again as she rubbed her clit.

When it finished, she felt like she couldn’t move. She felt Draco raise his mouth from her breast, so she blindly raised a hand to run through his hair. As she did so, Draco pulled his fingers out from her, making her groan.

“So…good?”

Virgo snorted, finally opening her eyes. Draco’s lips were red from mouthing at her nipples, and he had an unbearable smirk across his face. “Yeah, I’d let you do it again,” Virgo joked.

“Can you go again?” Draco asked, looking down her body. “Guys can’t, but I’ve heard girls can come a bunch of times in a row.”

“Yeah, I can,” Virgo answered. “Sometimes I feel like I need to—like one isn’t good enough. But don’t you want to take off your robe? I can feel your erection; I want to see how big you’ve gotten.” She reached down his body to cup his bulge through the fabric.

Draco flinched away.

“Astraea—don’t—”

Virgo’s afterglow vanished as her brother pulled himself out of touching distance. “What’s going on, Draco?” she demanded.

Draco bit his lip. “Look—I wasn’t lying, alright? I want you in my bed, I want to make you feel good. But I want to do right by you more—I can’t lose you again.”

“What are you—”

“I’m worried that if I let you touch me and suck my prick and everything, a few years down the line you’ll realize that I pressured you into it, or you did it just to please me,” Draco rushed out. “And I couldn’t bear that.”

“I _won’t_ ,” Virgo argued. “You didn’t pressure me—I had to practically _beg_ you—”

“But you know I like it, that I want you, and as much as you didn’t like me reminding you of it, three months ago, you have always liked pleasing me,” Draco explained. “Until I’m sure you won’t put me first, that you won’t just say yes to something because I want it, this is how it’s going to be. I know you like when I touch you, obviously, and I want to make you feel good, but…”

Virgo gaped at him. Draco was putting up a good showing, steeled for her refusal, but she could still see where his erection pushed out of his robe. She knew he wanted it. Part of her wanted to scream at him, for questioning yet again whether she knew her own desires, but another part of her remembered what Greg had said on the train and wondered how she could convince her brother once and for all that she was never leaving him ever again. That he wouldn’t lose her.

“What’s off limits?” she asked at last. “Sucking you, obviously—am I able to see you naked? Are we still able to share a bed?”

“You can’t get me off,” Draco explained, getting back onto the bed. “So, no naked stuff, or I’ll—” he coughed. “No naked stuff. But we can share a bed. And I want to do whatever you’d like—get you off however you like, as many times as you want.”

“What if however I like includes your prick?” Virgo asked pointedly.

“ _Virgo_ ,” Draco groaned, rubbing his face.

“What? I’m not happy about this, and think this is a load of bollocks, but I’m trying to understand.”

Draco glared half-heartedly at her. “No action between you and my prick,” he gritted out at last.

“Fine.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“You’re an idiot,” Virgo mumbled, staring at the ceiling. She was now absurdly aware of how naked she was, now that she knew that Draco wasn’t going to join her.

“I’ve thought about this a lot,” Draco explained, shuffling towards her tentatively.

Virgo didn’t respond.

“…I can lick you to make it up to you?”

Virgo considered.

“You’re going to have to lick me a _lot_ this summer to try to make it up to me,” she warned. Maybe, if she reminded him of how many orgasms she had coming her way, he’d get jealous and decide to rewrite his rules.

Draco grinned. “I better get started, then.”

Virgo sighed and opened her legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😉🤷🏼♀️
> 
> Excited to get everyone's thoughts! 
> 
> Come visit me on tumblr [here](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Playlist for Astraea is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Cc5p0U8XxeNsnAYsMcCNK)\-- continue to recommend songs that you associate with this story to me please!
> 
> Chapter survey is [here](https://forms.gle/YM89n1vXaWHupMrR9).


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Virgo adjust to the new routine at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm back! I've been dealing with some drama in my life that has made me a little depressed over the last few weeks, so I had been struggling to concentrate on writing. It feels so good to be back! I can't guarantee any particular schedule to my writing, but I'm at least in a slightly better position in some areas of my life, so hopefully more room for writing?

It was normal for Virgo to wake up several times during the night when she was sharing a bed with Draco. Even in their beds at home, where there was ample space for them to stretch out without touching, they gravitated towards each other. Whenever either of them would toss or turn during the night, the other would wake up, readjust with them, and go back to sleep.

When Virgo awoke in the middle of the first night of summer, she didn’t fall right back to sleep as usual. As soon as she opened her eyes, it was clear to her that this wasn’t going to be a brief stroke of consciousness.

The first thing she noticed was that Draco was sweating. Wiltshire summers could get hot, certainly, but the thick manor walls kept their rooms cool even in the warmest days of August. She wasn’t used to either of them waking up sticky, but Draco was sweating as if he had a fever. In addition, he was tossing around so much that one of his pillows had been thrown from the bed.

A nightmare, then. Virgo sighed, remembering her conversation with Greg. She couldn’t believe that Draco had been having these for months, and he hadn’t told her.

“Draco,” she murmured, shaking him awake. “Draco, wake up.”

As he became conscious, he inhaled as if coming up from underwater, sitting up violently. In the dim light, she could see his eyes dart around the room before settling on her face. And then the fight seemed to leave him.

“Astraea,” he sighed, as he fell back against the pillows, pulling her with him. His arms tightened around her.

“Nightmare?” she asked against his shoulder. She felt him nod, as he burrowed his nose into her hair.

She expected him to volunteer the content of his dream, but after several beats passed, filled with only his heavy breathing and the frantic rhythm of his heart underneath her hand, she was the one to speak.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It’s stupid,” he mumbled, sighing in a way that shook his whole body. “You’re here—you’re safe.”

Despite his words, he still held her tight to his body, as if she were going to disappear if he didn’t hold on. Virgo tossed a leg over his body and nuzzled closer. It still took several minutes for him to relax.

“I should change my sleep robe,” he murmured against her hair, as he slid out of her hold. “You can go back to sleep.”

Virgo nodded and watched him walk away.

* * *

The next time that Virgo awoke, the sun was high in the sky, and Draco was already awake. She didn’t remember him coming back to bed the previous night. She must have fallen asleep more quickly than she had expected.

“Good morning,” Draco murmured, as he propped himself up on an elbow, running his other hand over her body.

Virgo mumbled something that approximated a greeting as she turned into his body, pressing her nose into the hollow of his neck. After a moment, she pulled back.

“Did you bathe since last night?” she asked, sleep making her voice gravelly. “You smell like your soap.”

Draco hummed in agreement, pulling her head back to his neck. “Showered. In the middle of the night, before coming back to bed. Sorry about that, by the way.”

Virgo leaned back against the pillows so that she could look at him, and he let her go, although he conspicuously avoided her gaze. “Have you been having a lot of nightmares?”

He swallowed. “Some. Don’t worry about it.”

“Draco,” she admonished. She would worry about whatever she liked, thank you very much.

“I’m serious, Astraea,” he groaned, finally meeting her eyes. “You don’t need to take care of me.”

Virgo considered several argumentative replies, but rejected them all, considering they all dredged up Draco’s ruling about their sexual activities, and she was trying to let him sort it out on his own. So instead, she just grumbled and settled further into the mattress.

Draco seemed to appreciate her decision to not pursue the matter. “I like waking up to you, again,” he murmured, in an altogether different tone than he had previously.

Virgo didn’t respond, but the sulky feeling in her chest began to dissipate as he looked at her with those eyes. Draco shifted closer, rubbing his hand down her body until it cupped her privates through her nightrobe. “Can I?” he whispered.

Virgo nodded silently, opening her legs as he pulled up her robe slightly, and then delved his fingers between her legs.

“You’re not wet, like last night,” he observed, although his fingers still rubbed lightly at her inner lips.

“Last night you licked my nipples first,” Virgo whispered. “I’ll get there, if you keep doing that.” She still felt a little melancholy about Draco’s desire to keep silent on his nightmares, but she had forgotten how intoxicating it felt to have his attention completely on her, watching her reactions.

“Do you want me to do that again?” Draco asked, mirroring Virgo’s low tone.

Virgo frowned. She knew if he touched and licked her nipples, soon enough she’d be shaking and thrusting against his hand, but right now she was warm and comfortable. This was nice, just lying in his arms. “Not right now,” she decided. “Just your fingers, for now.”

Draco’s mouth quirked, and she felt like he approved of her decision, for some reason. “How do you get off, when it’s just you?” he asked curiously. “Just your fingers?”

“Sometimes,” Virgo explained, closing her eyes. Draco was running two of his fingers up and down the skin between her outer and inner folds, which she never did, but it was strangely hypnotic. “But I have a…”

She trailed off, unsure of how to describe her hairbrush.

“A what?” Draco prodded, when she didn’t respond. “There we go,” he murmured to himself, when he ran his fingers back to her hole, and found it wet.

“Don’t laugh,” she whispered, shifting her hips slightly as he returned his wet fingers to rub idly against her skin. He bumped her clit, seemingly on accident, but then his fingers sought it out again and again on their wandering path. “But I… use the handle of my hairbrush to… you know.”

“Fuck yourself?” Draco whispered.

Virgo’s eyes snapped open. “Draco!” she admonished.

Draco grinned. “What? You must have heard it before—the blokes on my quidditch team say it enough, I would’ve thought your team would be the same.”

“You better not let Mother and Father hear you,” she warned.

“Well, they’re not here, are they?” he replied, pushing a finger into her hole as if to prove his point. Virgo gasped, her hips shifting into the contact. “So? Do you? Use it to fuck yourself?”

Virgo could feel herself blushing. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I get a cramp in my arm when I use my fingers, and it feels better with the hairbrush, anyway—not as rough as my knuckles.”

“Yeah? So, you really like having something inside you?” Draco shifted his weight onto his knees, until he was leaning partially over her. The new angle allowed him to get his finger further into her, and he began to move it in and out gently. Virgo arched her back idly as she closed her eyes again.

“You couldn’t tell, yesterday? How I begged you to thrust your fingers into me?”

“Well, you begged for my tongue, as well,” Draco pointed out. Virgo could hear the smirk in his voice. “ _More, Draco, do that again, Draco!_ ” he imitated as he thrust his finger into her faster. “How am I supposed to know which you like better?”

“Sod off,” Virgo grumbled, blushing even further, as Draco chuckled. “I like both.” When Draco didn’t respond, and her embarrassment had passed in face of her heightening arousal, she continued. “Usually, when I get myself off, I use my hairbrush, and then use my fingers on… on my clit, too.”

Draco didn’t respond right away, and his finger slowed, so Virgo opened her eyes to find him licking his lips. “Can you show me, sometime?”

“You want to watch me… fuck myself?”

Draco grinned at the expletive, but his eyes were warm and soft. “Yeah, definitely. I’d love to watch.”

“Alright,” Virgo agreed. She shifted her hips pointedly, and Draco began thrusting his finger again, with a smirk. “Can you… do you think you can use your mouth and your fingers at the same time?”

Draco shifted again, so that his knees were between Virgo’s legs. When he shifted, the fabric of his nightrobe fell against his body in such a way that Virgo could see his prick sticking out, tenting the fabric.

“I think so,” Draco murmured. “Open your legs for me, Astraea.” Virgo bent her knees and opened her hips until she was splayed out for him. Draco didn’t take his eyes off her as he reached down to squeeze at his erection through his night robe. Virgo felt her hole spasm at the action.

Despite evidence of his arousal, Draco’s hand quickly abandoned his own body as he shifted until he was on his stomach between her legs. And then he pressed his mouth against her clit.

Virgo jerked underneath him, pressing against his mouth, but just as quick as his mouth had appeared, it disappeared.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to thrust my fingers very well,” Draco explained. “Not a great angle.”

“Just do your best,” Virgo said, pushing his head back down. She thought that she caught a glimpse of a smirk before he bent down again to lick against her clit as if it were a candy. His fingers began to move, but the rhythm was disjointed, sometimes hard, sometimes half-hearted. Still, her head fell back against the pillow, enraptured. It didn’t take long before she had one hand in his hair, pushing his lips harder against her, even as she rocked her hips into his mouth and fingers. Unlike yesterday, she didn’t have to prompt him to keep going as she orgasmed, as he continued thrusting and licking eagerly as she moaned and writhed.

When the last aftershocks passed, she pulled on his hair until he rose, wiping his face off with his sleeve. Virgo groaned idly as he pulled his fingers from her, but despite the small burst of desire, she felt sated.

She didn’t miss the way that her brother held himself above her, careful not to touch his body against hers. She wondered if he really thought she’d missed the fact that he was hard, or if he was worried that if he pressed down against her, he’d just start frotting against her until he finished.

“Are you going to wake me up every morning like that?” she asked humorously, stretching idly.

Draco grinned. “Maybe,” he replied. He sounded serious. Virgo felt another burst of arousal travel through her. “Better way to wake up than Gilly nagging us.”

Virgo frowned. “Speaking of, what time is it? Usually Gilly would’ve come in by now.”

Draco crawled over her to look at her watch, which she’d left on the bedside table. “It’s half past nine. Do you think she came in, and we didn’t notice?”

Virgo sat up, suddenly tense. “You don’t think she would, would she? If she saw what we were doing…”

Draco frowned, considering. “No, it seems more like her to stand silently at the end of the bed until we noticed her. Anyway, I ordered her not to tell Mother or Father when we are in each other’s beds… how can she tell them what we were doing while avoiding telling them that?”

Virgo didn’t respond for a moment, anxiety eating up at her. “I suppose that it _is_ unlike Gilly to leave any order undone—if Mother or Father asked her to call for us, she would feel honor bound to still be here until she got our attention.”

Draco nodded, but his lips were still downturned. “Next time I see her, I’ll rephrase the order, just to be careful.”

Virgo nodded, biting her lip. Then, she sighed and stretched again, as Draco slid off the bed and walked off to his closet to change.

When they walked down to breakfast a few minutes later, they found out why Gilly had not woken them. They were just approaching the main stairs when they ran into their mother and Gilly. Gilly was following Narcissa with a quill poised over a long piece of parchment, as Narcissa listed off names.

“And the Browns and Abbotts, it will be good to invite some of the more moderate families to this—oh, hello, dears,” Narcissa greeted as she spotted her children.

“Hello, Mother,” Virgo replied dutifully, although she was more occupied with curiosity over the scene. “What event are you planning?”

“Garden party,” Narcissa explained. “We missed the solstice, but I’m sure I can think of an excuse… Merlin knows it would be good to show the society that we’re not hiding.”

“Doesn’t Taruther usually help you with this sort of thing?” Draco asked, eyes narrowed.

A dark expression came over their mother’s face. “Yes, well, your _father_ has repurposed him for his own use, since he no longer has Dobby.”

“What happened to Dobby?” Virgo asked.

Narcissa huffed, looking off into space with an annoyed expression. Virgo wondered for a moment if their mother was frustrated with their questions, but she soon realized that it was Lucius that Narcissa was annoyed at, not them.

“Lucius went and accidentally gave him _clothes_ ,” Narcissa snarled. “The Potter boy was involved—shoved some filthy sock at Lucius, and your father threw it, and Dobby caught it—we should pray to Salazar that Dobby doesn’t reveal anything about our family to anyone, now that he’s no longer under our rule.”

Virgo furrowed her brow as she considered this news. She didn’t think that Dobby knew anything about her or Draco that could come back to bite them—not like Gilly did—but she was sure that he had picked up on some of her father’s secrets. Not that anyone in the Wizengamot or at the Ministry would believe a house-elf over a wizard, but still.

“Why did Potter care about freeing Dobby?” Draco asked, bewildered.

Narcissa lay her hand over her eyes, in an expression of tiredness. “It seems that Potter and Dumbledore figured out that it was Lucius who gave Ginny Weasley the diary—perhaps the Potter boy was trying to get Lucius back for endangering his friends—who knows. Incidentally, you both should know that your father has been asked to step down as a school governor. The other school governors aren’t aware of your father’s part in this year’s events, but he had to use a bit of _leverage_ to get them all to sign off on suspending Dumbledore…”

“Leverage?” Draco repeated. “You mean blackmail. How in the world was Father not sacked outright?”

Narcissa’s mouth twisted, and she glanced at Virgo. “It seems that the other Governors took pity on your father—they think that his actions were only that of a grieving parent. But you both should know that he no longer has any sway over the governors—if you get in trouble at school, he will not be able to extricate you from punishment.”

“Because he’s been so much help, so far,” Virgo scoffed. Narcissa looked flabbergasted at her tone, but Draco snorted. His amusement bolstered her fury at her parents simmering inside her. “Well, thank you for the update, Mother, but we really should go eat some breakfast.”

She and Draco began to descend the stairs, when Narcissa called them back.

“Virgo,” she called. Virgo cringed and turned slowly, expecting to be told off for the brush-off. She was wrong. “For this garden party, I was thinking you might want to invite some of your new friends? Like the Davies girl, or your Quidditch teammates?”

Virgo felt an initial leap of excitement at being able to actually bring her friends over to the Manor, to be able to see them before term started up again, but her frustration with her mother was more deeply rooted. “Will I be able to invite Abilene, as well?”

Narcissa quirked her head. “Darling, you know better than to ask that. We can’t associate with any family of known Death Eaters.”

Virgo shrugged. “Well, I won’t be inviting any of my more _moderate_ friends over without her. And I’ll tell them to reject your invitation if you invite them to the garden party. Either let me invite Abilene over, or find your own moderate friends to make our family look good.”

“Virgo—”

“Come on, Virgo,” Draco interrupted their mother. He started down the steps pointedly. “I’m hungry.” Virgo followed him, and thankfully their mother did not call after them this time.

* * *

Draco and Virgo rarely overlapped with their parents in the next few days. Lucius was always suspiciously out of the house on “Ministry business” at dinner time, and their mother hardly attempted conversation at mealtime. In a way, Virgo was thankful for this, because she could hardly stand the idea of making small talk with her mother, when so many things were unsaid. But any appreciation for the silence was cancelled out by her mother’s expression whenever they were together—of haughty disappointment, of martyrdom.

“It’s like she thinks _she’s_ the victim in all this,” Virgo complained to Draco a few nights later, while they lay in bed after a particularly terse dinner. “That she’s appalled that her children could be angry with her, or Merlin forbid, _show_ their emotions.”

Draco snorted into her shoulder. He was spooned behind her, coasting his hand up and down her side soothingly. “Well, you know Mother. She’s always thought that displays of emotion are low-class, a demonstration of lack of control. I think she’d rather that we secretly resent her for decades, rather than show it.”

Virgo scoffed darkly and arched her neck to nuzzle against Draco’s cheek. He pressed his face into her neck in response.

“I’m almost angrier at Mother than I am at Father,” Virgo continued after a moment. “At least Father _addressed_ it. At least he tried to explain his actions, even if his explanation was bollocks. Mother doesn’t seem to believe she’s at all at fault.”

Draco sighed into her skin but didn’t respond. Virgo had repeated Lucius’ explanation to Draco the day after arriving home, on a long walk of the Manor’s grounds. Unlike Virgo, Draco wasn’t overcome by fury at Lucius’ immoral opinions, but instead was diverted by the idea that the Dark Lord would return, and that their family might actually be in danger if he did.

After another minute of silence, Draco’s hand traveled further down her side, until his fingers grasped at the bottom of her nightrobe pointedly. “Astraea, can I… are you in the mood?”

Virgo felt the familiar rush of arousal at his question and reached down for the bottom of her nightrobe and pulled it off. “I’ve been thinking,” she murmured, as she settled back against his chest after throwing her robe onto the floor. “I think I’m just going to sleep naked, from now on. I like the idea of you being able to touch me whenever you want, during the night.”

“Are you sure?” Draco asked, even as he ran his hand up her stomach to fondle her breasts. “I don’t want to pressure you. I mean, it’s not like you’re wet all the time, the same way that I’m not hard all the time.”

“Yeah, but I usually get wet after a minute of you touching me,” Virgo explained, as she closed her eyes, and settled in as Draco continued caressing her body. “And even if I don’t come, I still like it. You touching me.”

“Alright,” Draco agreed in a low, pleased tone. “I won’t hold back, then.”

He trailed his hand down her body again, delving between her legs. Even though Virgo’s body was beginning to buzz with arousal, she knew she wasn’t wet yet. Draco had already learned a lot about what she’d liked, in the last few days, and instead just teased at her outer lips while her arousal built.

“What do you want, tonight?” he whispered against her neck. “My fingers? My mouth? Want me to lick your nipples?”

Virgo licked her lips, arching into him as she considered. While she did so, he pushed his fingers deeper between her legs, brushing a finger over her clit teasingly.

“I don’t know,” Virgo groaned at last, rocking her hips. His fingers danced away as she did so, brushing against her now wet skin.

“You don’t know?” Draco asked against the skin of her neck. “You’re sure about that?” As if to prove his point, he pulled his fingers further away from her clit, trailing them across her pelvic bone.

“Draco!” Virgo whined. “Stop teasing and touch me!”

He snickered in her ear. “So, you want my fingers, then?”

Despite his teasing, he did return his fingers to between her legs, coasting them through her slick and dragging his middle and pointer finger against her clit.

“I want… anything you’ll give me,” Virgo panted, opening her legs wider. In doing so, she arched against his body, and brushed against his erection. Draco made a surprised sound in her ear, but did not comment on it.

“I like the sound of that, Astraea,” Draco murmured. He sat up slightly, so that he could lean over her body, and suck a nipple into his mouth. In doing so, he pulled his lower body away from her. Virgo was too distracted by the new sensation to feel any disappointment at not being able to rub against him.

“More, Draco,” she groaned, rocking her hips against his fingers. She turned slightly, so that he could have better access to her nipples. His tongue and lips and even his teeth took turns torturing her nipple.

His mouth popped off, but he brought the hand that wasn’t between her legs over to pinch at the now shining peak. She moaned in response. “More what? Do you need my fingers in you? My mouth on your clit?”

“No, just more—harder, faster—please,” Virgo whined.

Virgo could tell that he was smirking just from the sound of his exhale. “Harder than this?” he asked, pleased, as he leaned further over her to suck her other nipple into his mouth. As he did so, he pinched at the other one visciously, and rubbed two fingers against her clit.

“Bett—better,” Virgo stuttered. “You can—harder than that,” she panted.

“Yeah?” Draco groaned, as he drove his fingers harder and faster against her clit, and pinched her nipple. “Damn, you’re wet—you really like this, just bloody rubbing your clit raw—”

Virgo gasped, her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth. “Bloody—shit—Draco,” she whined, as she approached her orgasm. When it finally hit her, it felt like it went on forever, and she could feel her brother’s fingers stuttering as they tried to keep up his frantic pace. She knew she was shrieking in pleasure, but she couldn’t begin to care.

When she began to quiet, Draco slowed his touch, and then stopped. Virgo turned her head lethargically into him. She felt as if she could melt into the bed.

“That seemed like the hardest one yet,” Draco whispered, satisfaction oozing from his words.

“ _Mhmm_ ,” Virgo agreed, turning further into him. His nose bumped against hers, and she could feel his breath over her lips. She wished she could just close the distance, lick over his lips, taste him. After a moment, Draco moved his head to her neck, taking the opportunity away from her.

They lay like that for a few moments, as Draco trailed his fingers, tacky with her juices, over her bum and back.

“Are you falling asleep?” Draco whispered after a few minutes. Virgo still hadn’t gotten used to the affection so evident in his tone every time they were alone, since she woke up from being petrified.

“ _Mhmm_ ,” Virgo hummed again. She felt Draco pull slightly away from her, so that she could collapse fully against the pillows.

“Blanket?” Draco asked.

“Just the sheet,” Virgo answered blearily. “Too hot.”

She felt Draco draw the sheet up over her body. The silken fabric against her naked skin drew shivers.

Virgo didn’t open her eyes as Draco extinguished the lamps and torches and settled a foot away from her on the bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she didn’t move a muscle. Her mind felt wonderfully empty, and her body was comfortable. She didn’t know if she’d ever been so relaxed.

It was for this reason, she guessed, that Draco thought she was asleep. She had collapsed with her head turned away from him, so when he began to move several minutes later, he did not notice her open her eyes. She could hear the rustle of the duvet, as he pushed it off himself. She thought he might just be hot, but then she heard the sound of skin against skin.

Draco was wanking. Virgo forced herself not to move a muscle, so that he would not realize that she was awake, as she listened. He was clearly trying to be quiet, as the only sounds were the rhythm of his hand over his prick, and his soft gasps. But after a moment, even those stopped.

Virgo worried that he’d figured out that she was awake, and was stopping out of the same stupid, ill-conceived martyrdom that had caused his restriction on their activities. But then she felt the sheet over her body slide away. She didn’t react as Draco drew it down her body, exposing her naked butt and back.

Then the sounds started up again. She could tell that he was wanking even harder now. She imagined him staring at her sleeping, naked body, imagining what he could do to her. She could feel herself quickly getting wet again and ached for him to do whatever he was thinking, for real.

It only took a minute before he was groaning softly, and the sound of skin against skin grew wet. She could tell exactly when he came, because he grunted lowly, in a way that she remembered from two years ago.

Well, that, and because she felt bursts of his spunk across her back.

It took a moment for Draco to recover. He breathed deeply for a minute, but then she felt him change position. “ _Fuck_ ,” he muttered to himself. Then, she felt him draw the sheet up again, wiping away the mess on her back.

She didn’t know how he thought she could have actually slept through that display, but Draco remained silent and careful as he cleared her up, and Virgo stayed still, not willing to give away that she had witnessed it. After the traces of sperm were gone from her skin, Draco slid from the bed and disappeared into the ensuite bathroom.

Virgo opened her eyes carefully, watching him go. When he was safely in the other room, she licked her lips and grinned to herself.

She definitely would be sleeping naked for the rest of the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the smuttiness of this chapter!
> 
> Some administrative stuff:
> 
>   1. I spent about 15 hours over the past two weeks rereading the entire story and re-editing it all. I want to make it clear that even though I edit my writing rigorously, some mistakes do slide through, so if you see any, I always appreciate you letting me know in the comments.
>   2. I had an idea in the last two weeks, prompted by a tumblr post I saw about "lurking" in fandom without commenting. I'm totally pro-lurking, but it occurred to me that plenty of people probably don't comment either because they don't know what to say that's original, or english is their second language, or they don't want to spend the length of time to comment, or they have mixed feelings on the writing, and don't want to say anything negative. SO I came up with the idea for an anonymous feedback form, that I'm going to start posting at the end of every chapter, that will allow anyone who is interested to just rate the chapter on various elements. Should just take 30-60 seconds. ANYWAy, the form is [here](https://forms.gle/j9cKo4FWs1FEjwgk8). I'm a total statistics nerd, so the idea of getting quantitative data on my writing is pretty exciting. Filling out the form is totally optional, though! Whatever floats your boat.
>   3. Finally, I'd like to open up about a personal quirk of mine-- I'm really bad at keeping to deadlines, and they stress me out a lot. Therefore, I need to ask you all to not phrase your comments like "when is the next update" or "please update soon!" I know that you are doing so as a compliment, because you're excited about my writing, but my brain interprets it as scolding for not getting the chapter out faster, and it just stresses me out. This is totally a personal opinion, and I'm not saying it's rude or that you shouldn't do it with other authors-- I'm just trying to be honest about how it makes me feel. Saying "I can't wait for the next chapter," is totally fine, that doesn't stress me out.
>   4. As always, tumblr is [here](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/) and the story playlist is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Cc5p0U8XxeNsnAYsMcCNK).
> 

> 
> ❤️


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgo sees various friends during the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! Thank you to everyone who filled out the chapter survey last time-- I got almost 150 responses, so I'm choosing to believe that I'm a genius and that I discovered a way for AO3 readers to provide feedback in a way they're comfortable with...Anyway, the real interest for the survey for me is to see if you guys like certain chapters over others, so it's valuable to me if you continue to take the time to respond for new chapters, so I can make a significant comparison.
> 
> OKAy onwards:

As much as Draco’s attention was intoxicating, and the number of orgasms that Virgo had had by his hand (or tongue) was quickly becoming unwieldy, Virgo found it strange having so little interaction with anyone else in the first week of summer. Lucius and Narcissa were still exceptionally distant, Gilly was attached to Narcissa’s hip, and as much as the portraits were pleased to catch up with Virgo, she was extremely aware of their two-dimensionality. She missed her friends and wished to see them—if only to prove to herself that she wasn’t trapped in a dreamworld.

Therefore, she was very thankful when she got an owl from Caecius asking to come over to the Manor.

Even though it had been only a week since she’d seen him, Virgo greeted Caecius exuberantly when he stepped through the floo. The minute that Virgo saw his easy grin, she felt a weight fall from her shoulders. She loved Draco, but she had missed the way that Caecius made life feel a bit brighter, a bit more hopeful.

The Manor was empty and silent as Virgo led Caecius through the foyer and hallways and out the door to the back garden. Caecius filled the silence by passing on well-wishes from his parents and Adriana, and then describing the new tutees that Adriana had taken on this year, who seemed exceptionally misbehaved. Virgo listened happily until they reached the Quidditch pitch.

Rather than heading for the broom shed, Caecius dropped down in the middle of the grass and flopped on his back. This wasn’t unusual, exactly—they often bracketed flying with long chats, lying out on the grounds—so Virgo didn’t think anything of it as she lay back next to him and looked up at the sky.

It _was_ unusual, of course, for Caecius to ask any pointed questions.

“I think this is the first time that your mother hasn’t come out to the Floo to greet me when I’ve come by,” he observed. “I would’ve thought that your parents wouldn’t let you out of their sight, after the basilisk. My parents certainly wouldn’t, if it had been me.”

Virgo stayed silent, even as she felt a pang in her chest at the comparison. Caecius’ parents cared about status and decorum, certainly, but it was easy to see how much they cared for their son. She had never told him how envious she was of that.

“And my mum told me that your father stepped down as a school governor, which I never thought would happen. They’re not taking you out of Hogwarts, are they? Because of the Chamber’s opening?”

Virgo scoffed darkly. That would be a natural parental reaction, wouldn’t it? Take your child away from the school where a basilisk had roamed free for almost a thousand years.

Caecius turned his head at her scoff, observing her quizzically. “What’s going on, Virgo?”

Virgo swallowed, and then, before she knew it, words were tumbling out of her mouth, as she explained how her father had received a cursed diary from the Dark Lord, how he had planted it on Ginny Weasley, how Lucius had tried to warn her to stay away from muggleborns, how Narcissa and Lucius had plotted to keep Virgo and Draco in the dark when they started asking questions, how Draco had figured out Lucius was involved, how her parents swore they never thought she would be in danger, how Narcissa had left her bedside when she was petrified, how Lucius still refused to show any regret for setting a basilisk on a school of children, how silent and tense the Manor had been the last week.

When she had finished, she and Caecius sat facing each other on the grass. Virgo pulled up blades of grass nervously, as her best friend stared off into space.

“Bloody hell, Virgo,” Caecius muttered, eventually. “I knew you were hiding something, before you got petrified, but I never thought…”

He trailed off, and Virgo looked up at him. “You did? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Caecius shrugged. “One day, you got back from the Slytherin common room, and you were acting odd—shifty. I figured that you would tell me what it was in your own time, if it was important. But then your weird behavior didn’t stop, and you didn’t say anything… I thought that maybe you had gotten into a fight with Draco, and I know better than to pry about that.”

Virgo’s mouth quirked humorlessly. “We _had_ gotten into a fight, in a way,” she mumbled. “Draco thought that we shouldn’t tell anyone about our suspicions, that Father would punish us if we messed up his plans. And I… well, I guess I was too much of a coward to say anything, even if I thought it was wrong. I think Draco blames himself, a bit, for convincing me to keep quiet.”

Caecius clicked his tongue. “What were you going to do; rat out your own father, just based on some suspicious stuff that he said? Nah, that’s bollocks.”

Virgo looked up at her friend, with a sad smile. “I guess,” she admitted. “I just… I _really_ don’t want to be like him, Caecius. Or Mother.”

Caecius scoffed. “You’re not. You think that either of your parents would befriend Granger, whether or not she had saved their life? Come on, Virgo.”

Virgo looked down at her hands as she shrugged. “I doubt that Hermione wants to be friends with me, anymore. Potter will have told her about Father’s role in everything. I’m sure she’s appalled that she ever hung out with me, even if it was just for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh, shut up,” Caecius replied lightly. “Don’t you think Potter would have told her immediately after it happened? And she still studied with you every day—and didn’t she say she wanted to stay in touch over the summer, too? Clearly, she doesn’t care.”

“I haven’t gotten an owl from her, though,” Virgo griped.

Caecius rolled his eyes. “She’s _muggleborn_ , Virgo. I bet she doesn’t have an owl. Honestly, you’re a Ravenclaw. Use your brain, you twit.”

Virgo snorted. Despite Caecius’ harsh words, it was as if he had shined a ray of sun on her thinking. He wasright—she had never heard Hermione talk about any pets, owl or otherwise. Maybe she had no way of contacting Virgo, without Virgo initiating.

“Now, do you have any more earth-shattering secrets to tell me, or shall we play some Quidditch?”

Virgo’s heart leapt into her throat, at the thought of the one secret she could never tell him, but she just shoved her best friend playfully and rose. Caecius laughed the entire way to the broom shed.

* * *

Virgo ducked away to the Manor’s owlery after dinner to send a letter to Hermione. Twenty minutes later, she watched Aquila fly off into the sunset with the following letter in her beak.

_28 th June, 1993_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I hope your first week of summer has gone well. I’ve unfortunately been a bit lax with my studying since arriving home. Most of my time has been spent with Draco, often outside on the Manor’s grounds, or chatting with the Manor’s portraits, rather than in the library catching up on what I missed while we were petrified._

_How was your reunion with your parents? I can’t imagine what your parents must think, hearing about your petrification, being muggles. And the botched Polyjuice! You certainly spent quite a bit of time in the hospital wing this year, didn’t you? Are they out of their mind with worry? It probably doesn’t help that your best friend was the one who killed the basilisk, in the end. Or maybe it does—it can’t seem so dangerous once a twelve-year-old has killed it._

_I’ve instructed Aquila (Draco’s owl) to stay with you after delivering this message, ~~so that you can~~ ~~if you aren’t~~ in the case that you want to reply right away. I don’t know if you have an owl?_

_I’d love to hear about what you’re studying, if you’ve been more diligent than I have, this week. Perhaps you’ll encourage me to get back to the books._

_Sincerely,_

_Virgo Malfoy_

She went to bed feeling lighter and found that it was much easier to turn her brain off that night, when Draco rolled on top of her and thrust two of his fingers into her until she was groaning and begging for more.

The next morning, she was pleased to find Aquila waiting for her at the breakfast table with a letter tied to her leg. Her mother and father had clearly already eaten and disappeared, as their place settings were removed, so Virgo immediately ripped into the letter from Hermione. Strangely, it was written on a material that seemed much flimsier than parchment, and the words were not in ink, but instead appeared to be scrawled with some sort of stone dust. Still, Virgo was much more focused on the words than the materials with which they were written.

_Virgo,_

_It’s so good to hear from you! Thank you for thinking to make Aquila available for our correspondence—I realized after arriving home that I forgot to tell you that I don’t own an owl!_

_Your manor sounds amazing. I like my house, and we live down the street from quite a nice park, but I imagine it’s nothing compared to your grounds. And the portraits! Oh, I’m kicking myself that I’ve never thought to talk to the portraits at Hogwarts—the portrait that guards Gryffindor tower is so vapid that I guess I assumed all of them must be that way._

_It’s honestly appalling how Hogwarts handled the petrifications. They didn’t tell my parents anything! I had told my parents about being turned into a cat (although they’re under the impression that someone hexed me), but no one told them about me being attacked by the basilisk. ~~Do you think your father~~ I wonder who made that decision._

_Anyway, it means that I haven’t gotten the courage to explain to them about being petrified. I don’t know if they would ever let me come back to school, if I did. They’ve teased me a bit, for studying so much since arriving home, but it’s not too far from the norm, so they aren’t suspicious at all._

_I’ve been focusing mostly on History of Magic, this week. Professor Binns assigned summer homework on medieval witch burnings, but I don’t want to start that assignment until I’ve caught up, in case I’ve missed any historical context._

_Write back soon!_

_Hermione_

Virgo folded the letter carefully and put it to the side of her plate, smiling. It remained to be seen whether Hermione knew about Lucius’ actions, but apparently nothing had changed in regard to their friendship in the last week. She would make sure to respond later that day.

Draco was eyeing the letter curiously as he applied jam to his toast. “Granger?” he asked.

Virgo nodded, glancing up at him. “How did you know?” She hadn’t told him about deciding to owl Hermione, the night before, even though she had revealed her worries that their father’s actions had ruined the budding friendship for her.

He nodded at the letter. “That’s muggle parchment, there. Made out of trees, or some rubbish.”

“Really?” Virgo looked again at Hermione’s letter. She didn’t understand how muggles could cut a tree so thin or make wood so malleable without magic.

As she was considering this, another owl flew in through the trick window at the top of the dining room. It took a moment for Virgo to place it, but then she recognized it as the barn owl that delivered Claire’s letters from home. She took the letter from its talons, and it immediately flew off the way it had come.

_Virgo,_

_Are you interested in coming over to my house one of the afternoons this week? I need to get a break from Roger and my parents! Also, I apologize in advance for how embarrassing my parents are—they’re really excited to meet you._

_Claire_

A pang of anxiety ran through Virgo as she read and reread Claire’s letter. Claire clearly thought that Virgo’s acceptance of her invitation was a foregone conclusion, but Virgo did not know how she would get her mother’s approval to go over to the Davies’ house without proving her mother right and losing any chance of seeing Abilene that summer.

As she was considering this, Draco was yawning widely. “Who’s this one from?” he asked when his mouth had closed again.

“Claire,” she answered shortly, but her eyes were narrowed at her brother, who was still showing evidence of exhaustion. “Were you up long, after your nightmare last night?”

Draco gave her an unimpressed look. “For a bit. It’s not your concern, Astraea,” he murmured, so that the portraits in the hall couldn’t hear. “What did Claire say?”

Virgo had anticipated his brush-off, since he had given her the same answer repeatedly in the last week. She was trying to figure out when she could point out that it _was_ her concern, since his nightmares were waking her up every night, and she hadn’t missed the fact that he couldn’t go two hours without seeing her and confirming that she was safe.

But she hadn’t figured out how to phrase that yet, so she stayed silent and handed Claire’s letter to him to read. He scanned the short note quickly, and then handed it back to her.

“So? I thought you’d be excited to see Claire.”

“Of course, I’m excited to see Claire,” Virgo griped. “I’m _not_ excited to ask Mother for permission, after I said that I would refuse to see my more moderate friends until she lets me invite Abilene over. It’ll completely destroy my bargaining position.”

Draco sighed. “Virgo, you hardly have a position as it is,” he explained. “Mother knows you won’t give up seeing all your friends just for Abilene—and I’d bet anything that she invited all your friends and their families to the garden party anyway, because she knows that their parents won’t say no just because you say they should.”

Virgo stopped eating to pout at Draco. He seemed unmoved by her stare, if his rolling eyes were any indication.

“Luckily, your _wonderful_ older brother has thought of an idea,” he gloated.

“Is it inviting Abilene over without Mother’s or Father’s approval? Because I’ve considered that,” Virgo replied.

“What? No, of course not, do you think we need more drama around the house?” Draco snarked. “I’ve been thinking about Father’s admission that he thinks the Dark Lord will return—if Father thinks that, and he’s scared of You-Know-Who’s disapproval, then it seems wise to keep his other followers’ families close. I think you should argue that with Mother and Father.”

“Don’t you think they would’ve already thought that, if they did?”

Draco smirked. “Yes, but now you have an extra bargaining chip, don’t you? The Davies have invited you over—you can point out that you could do a lot more for our image than one measly garden party. You _do_ attract all sorts.”

Draco said this last sentence with a sort of fond smile. Virgo still hadn’t gotten used to the way Draco seemed to find every quirk of her personality charming, since she had woken up from being petrified.

“I suppose,” Virgo sighed, resigning herself to a conversation with her Mother later that day. Sometimes she wished that she had Polyjuice, and Draco could just take her place for any bargaining with Mother or Father. She always felt out of her depth.

For the next several hours, Draco and Virgo enjoyed another lazy summer day, wherein they flew idly around the grounds, enjoyed the sunshine, spent an hour in the library half-heartedly studying, and then went back to Virgo’s room after lunch, where Draco hiked up her robe and practiced undulating his tongue against her clit until she was shaking. Finally, though, when the hour for dinner was approaching, she decided that enough was enough and she should just speak with her mother. Putting it off anymore would only stress her out further.

As much as the tension in the manor was stressful, she had appreciated the distance from her parents the last few days. All her emotions just felt too raw, and she was worried what would happen if they actually had to speak about them. She had gotten in trouble with her father often enough, as a child, but she had never truly let him or her mother have it.

As she approached her mother’s study, she imagined all the ways this conversation could go. Narcissa’s demeanor over the last week suggested that one wrong move, and Virgo’s mother would scold her for her attitude. Virgo imagined Narcissa trying to punish her, or calling Lucius to do so, and her fury raged inside her. If they did—if they even tried, well Virgo wouldn’t allow it. She imagined disarming her parents, hexing them, running from the room, running from the manor. Would Caecius take her in, if she ran away? She didn’t know if the Averys would allow it. Claire’s family, maybe.

With this in mind, she knocked on her mother’s door.

“You’re home early,” her mother called.

Virgo frowned and opened the door. Narcissa had a small smile across her face as she looked up, but it changed into confusion as she spotted Virgo.

“Oh, Virgo. I thought you were your father. Come in.”

Virgo stepped inside tentatively. Her mother gestured silently at the sumptuous armchair across her desk, but Virgo waved away the offer. Her heart was beating too fast to allow her to sit.

“What is it, Virgo?” her mother asked, tiredly.

“Claire Davies has asked me to come over to her house, an afternoon this week,” she explained tightly.

Narcissa raised her eyebrows. “And you’re now realizing that you need my approval for such a visit, rather than the other way around?”

Virgo scoffed. “I don’t _need_ your approval for anything, anymore.”

Narcissa chuckled humorlessly. “Oh, really? You forget that you are a child, Virgo.”

“Can I be a _child_ without real parents?” Virgo snarked.

“What in heaven do you mean, without real parents?” Narcissa asked. “We clothe you, we house you, we—”

“Real parents _love_ their children,” Virgo interrupted. “Real parents keep them _safe_ , they don’t send them into a school with a basilisk—”

“We _did_ think you were safe!” Narcissa said, aghast. “What have I done to deserve such insolence—my child saying that I don’t love her—”

“When have you ever shown that you love me?” Virgo asked, her heart in her throat. She choked on her emotion, and suddenly there were tears spilling from her eyes. Narcissa twitched in her chair, seemingly in an aborted motion to get up. “You don’t hug or kiss me, like other parents, you didn’t apologize for endangering my life, you didn’t stay to see me wake up from being petrified, you didn’t write me afterwards, you’ve hardly spoken to me since I got home—”

“ _Oh_ , darling,” Narcissa murmured, and then she was rising from her chair with her arms outstretched.

Virgo sobbed and jerked away for a moment, in a half-hearted attempt to hold onto her anger, but then she surrendered and fell into her mother’s waiting arms.

“I love you _so much_ ,” Narcissa swore against Virgo’s hair, as she sobbed into her mother’s shoulder. “I never knew you that you questioned it. It would be my greatest regret, if you or Draco didn’t know how much you are loved.”

A million snarky replies ran through Virgo’s mind, but she was so occupied with crying that she could only make a pained noise in her throat in reply. Narcissa rubbed her back comfortingly.

“You know that we’ve never been the most demonstrative family. I was raised the same way—and Lucius, too. I think I forget; how it feels to be a child and see your friends’ parents hug and kiss their children so openly. It doesn’t mean anything,” Narcissa promised.

“It means something to me,” Virgo murmured.

Narcissa pulled back to look at her, brushing a hand over Virgo’s cheek, which was now wet with tears. She had a look of pained discomfort written across her face. “I’m sorry, darling,” she said.

Virgo looked down at the ground. It was rare that either of her parents apologized, and a strange surge of guilt burst through her, at making her proud, beautiful mother do so. Even if Narcissa hadn’t made any statement to suggest that she would change her actions.

“In regard to your petrification,” Narcissa continued, sighing. “I assumed your quarrel would be with your father. Perhaps that was naïve. But I thought that this was an issue that I should not mediate; I thought you and your father would have to work it out yourselves. And the way you’ve acted since getting home—well, I didn’t think you wanted to speak to me.”

“Of course, I didn’t!” Virgo cried. “I wanted you to apologize! I didn’t want to be the one to come—to come begging—”

She cut herself off, hiccupping. Narcissa frowned, as she rubbed Virgo’s back.

“I’m sorry, darling. I’m so sorry. What can I do, to make it better?”

Virgo sniffed as she pulled back from her mother’s embrace again. It took her several seconds to gather the strength to demand, “I want to have Abilene over.”

Narcissa’s expression twisted. “Darling, you know why—”

“I’ve already gotten sucked into your and father’s politics too much!” Virgo argued. “I missed three months of my life, because of it! I should be allowed to have the friends I want.”

“We do not have that luxury,” Narcissa declared, as she sat back at her desk. “There are friendships that are simply too dangerous for us to have—on both sides. And I am not saying you can’t be friends with Abilene—just that you can’t have her over to the manor.”

“So, you would let me go over to her house?” Virgo asked.

Narcissa grimaced again. “I suppose I could allow that,” she said at last. “But I will not have you inviting yourself over—you cannot forget your manners, darling.”

Virgo cheered internally. “Yes, Mother.”

“Is there anything else, darling?”

Virgo shook her head, and began to make for the door, before she thought better of it. “Actually, there is, Mother.”

* * *

It only took one conversation with Caecius the next day to receive an invitation from Abilene. Virgo hadn’t thought anything of repeating the entire conversation with Narcissa, and its subsequent compromise, to her best friend. At the end, he had surprised her by smirking.

“So, her only rule is that _you_ can’t invite yourself over to Abilene’s?”

“Well, yes,” Virgo sighed. “But I just don’t know how to hint to Abilene that I’d like to see her without saying outright why I can’t invite her over. You know how insecure Abilene can be.”

Caecius nodded in agreement, but he was still smirking. “Well, your mother can’t tell _me_ what to do. I’ll write Abilene and explain.”

“You would do that?” Virgo cheered. “Promise you’ll be gentle—I don’t want Abilene thinking I’m ashamed of her.”

Caecius rolled his eyes, but he promised, nonetheless.

The next day, Virgo received an invitation from Abilene just as she was heading to the floo to go over to Claire’s. She smiled and rushed through a reply to accept, although she wouldn’t be able to come over for several more days, since she had made plans with Draco to map the edge of the Manor’s grounds the next day, and Caecius was coming over the day after that.

She was still smiling when she hurtled through the floo. When she stopped spinning, and the green flames died down, she stepped out into an unfamiliar room. The first thing she noticed was that the top of the fireplace was closer than she expected. Most public floos, and the floos in Malfoy Manor, were at least eight feet tall. This one, she was sure, would have most adults ducking their head to exit.

The second thing she noticed, was that the room was similarly small, a fact that was accentuated by the number of books and furniture crammed inside. Claire was waiting for her lounging on one of two overstuffed couches, next to what had been an end table, and now was more aptly described as a stand for a large pile of books.

“Virgo!” Claire greeted happily and stood to hug her. Virgo grinned.

“Thank you for inviting me,” she said, partly because her parents and tutors did drill some basic manners into her, partly because she was actually grateful.

“Yeah,” Claire muttered vaguely. “Come on, mum and dad made me promise to introduce you.”

The next room was the kitchen, where Claire’s parents were making a valiant effort at pretending that they weren’t waiting for the girls to exit the parlor to introduce themselves. When they entered, Mrs. Davies grinned widely, turning away from the window, and Mr. Davies threw down _the Daily Prophet_ dramatically, taking off his reading glasses as he did so.

Virgo had assumed that Claire was exaggerating when she had said that her parents were going to be embarrassing, but for several seconds, Mr. and Mrs. Davies both just smiled at Virgo. Then, Mrs. Davies leapt forward and wrapped Virgo into a hug.

“Oh, it’s just so nice to meet you, Virgo! We’ve heard so much about you—we’re so glad you and Clairebear hit it off—we were worried that she was just going to camp out in the library for the year—”

“ _Mom_ ,” Claire whined. Her cheeks had turned red while Mrs. Davies was speaking.

“Well, we do spend quite a bit of time in the library,” Virgo said hesitantly.

“We’d expect nothing less from Ravenclaws!” Mr. Davies declared. “Just as long as Claire has company. She was so devastated when you were petrified…”

Mrs. Davies clutched her chest dramatically. “Oh, my stars, _I_ was devastated! I barely allowed Claire and Roger to go back to school after Christmas, and then—a friend of theirs, attacked!”

Virgo didn’t know what to say to that. It was weird to think that people she hadn’t even met were having reactions to her petrification.

“O _kay_ so we’re going to go hang out in my room,” Claire mumbled as she grabbed Virgo’s hand to pull her from the room. There was a small rickety staircase behind them. At the top was a small landing with only three doors. Behind one of them was Claire’s room. Virgo could tell it was Claire’s room because there was a sign emblazoned into the wood that said:

**_Knock Please!_ **

**_Roger Not Allowed Inside Under Any Circumstance!! _ **

Claire’s bedroom was just as cramped as the downstairs rooms were. Under the eaves of the roofline is crammed one single bed, and the only other furniture was a wardrobe, a desk, and a desk chair. A pile of books was masquerading as bedside table, where a sole lantern stood.

Claire didn’t seem to notice Virgo evaluating the room, as she just flopped down onto the floor, leaning against her bed. Virgo frowned, but lowered herself to sit across from her on the rug.

“Would you rather play gobstones or chess? Or, my aunt got me this muggle game, last Christmas—it’s called Cluedo?”

Virgo’s face lit up. The only muggle game she had played was backgammon with Liam; it would be interesting to learn a new one.

The girls passed several hours playing Cluedo. They soon realized that the game was too simple with two players, so they spent quite a bit of time testing different variations to make it more difficult. Still, Virgo would have enjoyed it even without the variations—it was fascinating to see what counted as a weapon in the muggle world, and what rooms were in a muggle house, and wonder how there could be secret passageways in a house without magic.

She and Claire were both tired out from giggling when the time came for Virgo to leave, and they both practically skipped down the stairs to the floo. Mr. and Mrs. Davies were no longer around, but Roger was sitting in the parlor reading when they entered.

“Oh, hello, Virgo,” Roger said when they entered. “Mum mentioned you were coming over.”

“Hello, Roger,” Virgo greeted. It was strange to see Roger outside of school. They had never actually spoken much, except for discussing Quidditch strategies and calling for the Quaffle, so she didn’t know what to say.

“I’m glad I saw you though—Grant and I were discussing the idea of having summer Quidditch practices, since we missed out on so much flying in the spring.”

“ _Roger_ ,” Claire whined, flopping onto one of the couches. Despite her complaint, she didn’t actually look very annoyed that her brother was speaking to her friend, so Virgo thought it was safe to continue the conversation.

“You mean with the whole team?” she asked Roger.

“Yeah, I mean, not Troy, since he’s graduated now, but the rest of us,” Roger agreed. “We’re trying to figure out where to play—Grant and I have played in the woods behind his house before, but it might be a bit more difficult with seven or eight of us.”

Virgo nodded vaguely. “We could play at my house,” she suggested tentatively. “We’ve got a regulation pitch and everything.”

“Blimey,” Roger muttered. “Your parents would be alright with it?”

Virgo shrugged. Her parents would be overjoyed at the opportunity to be associated with so many moderate families. It helped that none of her teammates were muggleborns or blood traitors. “I’ll ask them, but yeah, I reckon so.”

“That would be great. You’ll owl, once you know?”

Virgo nodded, and then glanced at Claire. Her friend had picked up a book to read while she and Roger were speaking. When Claire looked up, she rolled her eyes and made a face at Roger, but hugged Virgo goodbye jovially, all the same.

When Virgo stepped out of the floo into the Manor’s entrance hall, Gilly was waiting for her with instructions to change for dinner and report to the east dining room. Virgo complied but arrived to the dining room after her parents and Draco. Mealtimes over the last few days had been more comfortable, now that Narcissa and Virgo had talked, but Draco was still treating both their parents frostily. It was no surprise when Draco asked to be excused as soon as he finished his meal.

Virgo had planned to follow him expediently, but when she also finished her meal and Lucius had finished discussing the latest political drama of the ministry, her mother stopped her.

“Before you go, darling,” Narcissa began. “What you asked for has arrived.”

“Already?” Virgo asked. “That was so quick!”

Her mother smirked. “There are advantages to being a Malfoy, dear. When I said I needed it as soon as possible, I suspect Monsieur Dupont put everything else on hold to complete it.”

Virgo smiled. “Thank you, Mother.”

Ten minutes later, she entered her bedroom to find Draco already in his night robe, reading on her bed. He seemed quite immersed, as he hardly looked up when she entered and deposited the small box in her hand on the nightstand. It was only after she had completed her nighttime routine in the bathroom and stripped off her robe in the closet that Draco looked up.

Virgo had gotten more used to being naked around Draco, but the way he looked at her bare body still made her heart beat faster. She tried not to show it as she climbed onto the bed and slipped under the covers.

Draco immediately tossed his book aside, and got under the covers as well, although when he rolled over to press Virgo against the mattress, he pulled the duvet and sheets down far enough so that her torso was in the air.

“How was your day?” Draco asked, even as he rubbed his hands over her torso and stomach and cupped her breasts.

“Good,” Virgo smiled, closing her eyes as he teased her nipples idly. She told him about playing Cluedo with Claire, and then about Roger’s suggestion to have summer Quidditch practices.

Draco had rearranged her body as she talked, pulling her further down the bed, until she was properly prone and her legs were on either side of his body, tossed over his thighs. He hadn’t stopped twirling his fingertips around her nipples, which was fairly distracting. Virgo couldn’t tell if Draco’s fond smirk was a result of listening to her story, or if he was amused by her determination to finish telling him about her day despite her hard nipples and arousal.

“You’re telling me that I’ll be able to spy on your team’s practices all summer?” Draco asked, when she’d finished. He grinned as he leaned down to suck a nipple into his mouth.

Virgo tossed her head back against the pillow. “Don’t…do that…” she chided feebly, as she tried to keep her head through the sensation of his tongue lapping against her nipple. When Draco looked up with a roguish grin, she found her words again. “We’ll win against Slytherin even if you do.”

Draco snorted. “Like you did in the winter matchup?” he taunted, as he leaned back down to kiss her other nipple. But soon enough, he popped off again. “But it’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll invite my team over, as well. We could even have a full scrimmage, between our teams.”

Virgo scoffed. “With the way your team plays? No, thank you. I’d rather not get knocked off my broom, this summer.”

Draco’s face darkened slightly. “As if I’d let them,” he murmured seriously.

Virgo swallowed, licking her lips in the face of Draco’s intense stare. “That reminds me,” she began with forced casualness. “I have something for you. A bit of a late birthday present, since I didn’t have time to get you anything for your real birthday.”

Draco scoffed. “You didn’t need to get me anything,” he remarked. "I think you get an out, being petrified until a few days before my birthday.”

Virgo smirked. “So you don’t want it?” she teased.

Draco laughed, prodding her stomach playfully. “Of course, I want it.”

Virgo grinned and sat up, reaching over to grab the box she’d left on the nightstand. She handed it to Draco silently, but didn’t lie back down, so that Draco was forced to unwrap the box between their torsos.

“A watch?” Draco asked as he fingered it carefully. “To match my rings?”

“It was charmed by the same man,” Virgo explained. “And I thought I’d make it match the rings.” The face of the watch was a dark emerald, and a platinum snake curled around it, making the entire aesthetic quite Slytherin. “But that’s just for appearances.”

Draco looked up at her curiously. Virgo smiled.

“Touch the watch face and say ‘ _aperio_ ,’” she instructed.

Draco did so, and the entire face of the watch immediately opened, showing the true purpose of the gift. The face underneath was dark sapphire, like the night sky. In the middle were three stars that read _Virgo_ , _Narcissa_ , and _Lucius_ in miniscule writing. Around the edge of the face were descriptions like ‘ _Hogwarts_ ,’ ‘ _Working_ ,’ ‘ _Sick_ ,’ and even ‘ _Azkaban_.’ Virgo’s star was currently connected to the designations of ‘ _Safe’_ and ‘ _Malfoy Manor’_ by a thin silver line, as if denoting a constellation.

“I know you’ve said it’s not my concern,” she explained softly, “but it hurts me to see you worried. I thought it might help, if you had a way to check. To know for sure that I'm safe, even if we are apart.”

Draco was silent for several moments, and Virgo worried that she had overstepped, and he was going to lecture her on why she shouldn’t worry about him—he was the older brother, he protected _her_ , yada yada. But instead, Draco just swallowed and murmured, “This is amazing, Astraea.”

“Yeah?”

He looked up with a small smile. She was surprised to find that his eyes were glistening. “Yeah,” he confirmed.

He didn’t say anything else, but he threaded his wrist through the watch almost reverently. Virgo reached out to help him close the clasp, and noticed that Narcissa’s constellation, which had previously read ‘ _Safe’_ —‘ _Malfoy Manor’_ —‘ _Eating_ ,’ now replaced ‘ _Eating’_ with ‘ _Reading_.’

After it was firmly on his wrist, he placed the box it had come in on the bedside table and pushed down the top watch face until it clicked shut. And then he pushed Virgo back against the pillows.

“How did I get a sister like you, Astraea?” he asked softly. He leaned over her, and for a minute, Virgo thought he was going to kiss her, her lips poised, her heart beating against her chest, her tongue against her teeth, but instead, he just leaned in and kissed her neck softly. He continued to move down her body, applying kisses across her skin, until he was in between her legs, and he bent to kiss there, too.

Virgo tried not to feel disappointed, as her brother brought her to another screaming orgasm, making her hands clutch at his hair and her thighs squeeze his head, but afterwards she lay awake, thinking. She knew he loved her, knew he was attracted to her, knew he wanted to make her feel good, but still he treated every kiss he lay on her body like a gift to her, or even worse, like a debt owed. She had never been kissed on the mouth before, but she thought it might be different. She thought a kiss on the mouth would be like a promise.

And she wanted any promise he could give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you live in the US, have a good thanksgiving tomorrow!!
> 
> Tumblr is [here](https://luckywatersao3.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Chapter feedback survey is [here](https://forms.gle/5fJadTn77wt5Zs8v8)!
> 
> And story playlist is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Cc5p0U8XxeNsnAYsMcCNK)! (Also, I continue to appreciate song recs, they do help inspire me!)
> 
> Edit 11/30/2020: I've decided to take a hiatus from this story for the month of December, so I'll return in the new year!
> 
> Edit 1/1/2021: New chapter coming soon! Should be this week. Check my tumblr for more updates.


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